# Can a Customs Broker Rely on AI for Tariff Classification?

> US Customs and Border Protection ruled in January that a tool is not a person, so the code on an entry stays the licensed broker’s call. The research behind it is where a brokerage’s hours go.

By Vlad Shvets, Partner @ Qvery · Published 2026-11-13 · 12 min read
Canonical: https://qvery.ai/blog/ai-hts-classification/

Every product an importer sends that your brokerage hasn’t classified needs a ten-digit code from the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), the list that sets the duty on everything imported.

Someone reads the spec sheet, works out what the thing is and what it does, checks the chapter’s legal notes and looks up what US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) ruled on goods like it.

The work grows with every tariff change: the schedule was revised **10 times** in 2024 and **32 times** in 2025, and the code also decides which extra tariffs stack on top of the base duty.

Take a brokerage with **400 products** a month that are new to its parts dictionary, its record of codes already decided, at 45 minutes each: **3,600 hours** a year, about **$179,064** at what a classifier costs with benefits.

> 🛃 At Qvery, we help customs brokerages spend less on classification, with custom AI agents that research each new product and re-check their parts dictionary when the schedule changes.

Vendors now sell AI that returns a code in seconds, and owners want to know whether the desk can rely on it.

For the code itself, no: CBP holds the licensed broker to that decision whatever software suggested it, and on the one peer-reviewed test of US ten-digit codes, the best AI agent got fewer than half right. What AI can take is the research behind each code, which is where those 3,600 hours go.

## The Code Is Your Broker’s Decision, Whatever the Software

Classifying goods for an importer is customs business, the work federal law reserves for licensed customs brokers. The statute names classification in its definition, along with preparing anything meant to be filed with CBP, whether or not the preparer signs it.

The importer owes reasonable care on every code, and a negligent error can carry a civil penalty of up to **twice the duty** it cost the government. Your licensed brokers answer for supervising the customs business the brokerage does.

In January 2026 CBP applied that to an AI classification tool. An unlicensed platform gave importers tariff code suggestions under a disclaimer, and CBP found that suggesting codes beyond **six digits** for goods that will be entered is customs business, disclaimer or not. Then it wrote down what it expects of any tool doing this work.

> A tool does not constitute a “person” as defined by 19 C.F.R. § 111.1, such that the actual decision regarding the classification of imported merchandise, or any other information needed to make entry, must be made by a duly licensed customs broker.
>
> Yuliya A. Gulis, Director, Commercial and Trade Facilitation Division, CBP, in ruling HQ H350722 (January 2026)

What a brokerage can buy, then, is speed and a dated record for a decision its broker still makes. The ruling is quoted as CBP wrote it; how it reads on your own setup is a question for your customs counsel.

## AI Narrows the Field and Misses the Last Digits

The accuracy figures vendors quote, up to 88% at ten digits in one pitch and 95% in another, come without a test anyone can check. The highest figure in a published paper, 89% on 103 items drawn from CBP rulings, comes from a 2024 study written at the company whose tool scored it, and those rulings are public text a model may already have read.

The independent test I trust most on US ten-digit codes was published this year at ACL, a leading research conference on language technology. It used 632 real product listings, each coded by two tariff experts and settled by a senior one where they disagreed.

The best AI agent, given search, CBP’s rulings database and written decision rules, got **46.8%** of the full codes exactly right.

The paper puts human experts at **95%**.

**The Best AI Agent’s Accuracy at Each Level of a US Tariff Code** (% exactly right)

The best AI agent picked the right two-digit chapter 82.06% of the time and the full ten-digit code 46.83% of the time.

| Label | Value |
|---|---:|
| 2 digits | 82.06% |
| 4 digits | 72.06% |
| 6 digits | 62.38% |
| 8 digits | 52.38% |
| 10 digits | 46.83% |

Share of 632 product listings the best agent in the test (SmolAgents on GPT-5) coded exactly right, from the two-digit chapter to the full ten-digit code; the codes were set by tariff experts. Source: HSCodeComp: A Realistic and Expert-level Agent Benchmark for Hierarchical Rule Application (ACL 2026)

The curve says more than the last bar. The agent finds the right chapter **four times in five** and loses ground with every pair of digits after it.

Past the sixth digit the code belongs to the US schedule alone, and the eighth digit is where the duty rate is set, so that’s where a wrong answer costs money. The test used shop listings rather than spec sheets, and a broker’s inputs may do better; nobody has published that test yet.

**What Reddit says**

> At the end of the day, who's actually responsible and head is on the line if AI gets it wrong? Importer (and by extension, the customs broker) or AI? So long as it is my head on the line, not AI, I'm not using AI for anything critical, especially anything sent to the government.
> ([r/CustomsBroker · Oct 2026](https://www.reddit.com/r/CustomsBroker/comments/1wvbn62/youre_still_underestimating_ai/pdagj89/))

> I just got a come-on outreach from a company promising 72% accuracy with their AI HTS classification…if my full time human classifiers had that low of an accuracy score, they would be LOW PERFORMERS and it would be a HUGE PROBLEM for me as an importer!!
> ([r/CustomsBroker · Apr 2026](https://www.reddit.com/r/CustomsBroker/comments/1sxagu5/what_to_make_of_thomson_reuters_95_ai_claim/oimo1oq/))

> Had a back-and-forth with CBP on a reclassification recently in which they suggested a HTS that never occurred either to me or any AI engines that looked at it. CBP doesn't have PhD electrical engineers, there is a much different human component involved. They focused in on an aspect of the product specifications that nobody (lawyer included) thought was material.
> ([r/CustomsBroker · Apr 2026](https://www.reddit.com/r/CustomsBroker/comments/1sxagu5/what_to_make_of_thomson_reuters_95_ai_claim/oill6h6/))

## The Hours Are in the File Behind Each Code

A code with no reasoning saves your broker nothing.

To sign it with reasonable care they need to know why it’s right, so they research it again from the product up, and the hours stay where they were.

What a broker can check fast is a code that arrives with its evidence: the facts it rests on, the notes that rule out the neighbors, the rulings on similar goods. That bundle is the work, and on most desks nobody writes all of it down.

**The file behind one code, and what each part settles**

| Part of the file | Where it comes from | What it settles |
|---|---|---|
| What the product is made of, what it does, how it’s used | The importer’s spec sheet, invoice line and photos | Which headings are possible at all |
| The legal notes of the section and chapter | The HTS itself | Which of those headings are ruled out |
| Rulings on similar goods | CROSS, CBP’s public database of rulings | How CBP has decided the same question |
| Reasoning through the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI), the schedule’s rule order | Your broker’s analysis | Why this code and not the next one |
| Questions only the importer can answer | Email to the importer | The fact the code turns on |
| The extra tariffs on the code | Chapter 99 of the schedule | What the importer pays on top |
| The date, the schedule revision and who signed | Your broker | Which version of the rules it was decided under |

That file is also what reasonable care looks like on paper. It answers CBP’s Request for Information (CF-28) about goods already released, and the records CBP requires are kept for **five years**. On a busy desk the code goes into the parts dictionary and the reasoning stays in someone’s head.

## What Qvery’s AI Agents Put in Front of Your Broker

A new product shows up as a part number your parts dictionary doesn’t know, on an importer’s order or invoice, or as a spec sheet in the shared inbox. On your classification desk, Qvery’s agents check the dictionary first and stop if your broker has already decided the same goods.

If not, they read the spec sheet and the invoice line, narrow the headings the facts allow, pull the chapter notes that rule others out and the CROSS rulings on similar goods, and write the reasoning for each candidate they keep.

Your broker’s queue gets the file: the candidates ranked with their evidence, the facts each depends on, the Chapter 99 lines that come with each, and drafted questions where a fact is missing. The agents never pick the code. Your broker reads, decides, corrects the reasoning where they disagree and signs, and the file keeps the date, the schedule revision and the name.

When the schedule changes, **23 times** this year by November 10, the agents find the products in your dictionary under the lines that moved and put them back in front of your broker with what changed. What the agents may propose, and how, your licensed broker writes down before they start, which is also what CBP’s ruling asks of any tool.

The example above is what the calculator starts from: 400 new products a month, 45 minutes each by hand, 12 with the agents’ file, and a classifier at $49.74 an hour. Type your own desk’s figures over them.

(An interactive calculator on the page: roi-hts-classification-research.)

On those numbers each new product costs **$12.20** instead of **$37.31**, the desk gets **2,640 hours** a year back, and the saving is **$120,514** a year after **$10,800** a year to run the agents. Each $10,000 of build is covered by about one month of that saving.

The 45 minutes is our assumption, at the low end of the 20 minutes to two hours vendors quote for research by hand. The 12 minutes includes your broker’s review of the file. The running cost is an estimate too: hosting and upkeep at $500 monthly, plus about a dollar a product in model usage.

The hourly cost starts from the federal figure for compliance officers, the occupation that includes customs brokers, at freight arrangement firms: a mean of **$34.82** an hour. Benefits are 30% of a private employer’s compensation cost, which brings it to $49.74.

![The importer’s documents and your parts dictionary feed Qvery’s AI agents: they check past decisions, narrow the headings and write the file, and your licensed broker picks the code and signs.](https://qvery.ai/blog/ai-hts-classification/illustration-classification-file-agents.webp)

*The AI agents do the research and write it down; the code on the entry is your licensed broker’s decision.*

The freed hours belong where only a licensed person can spend them: the products that sit between two headings, the binding ruling requests, the importer who needs the answer explained.

## What Stays With Your Broker

Everything that commits the brokerage stays with a person: the code on every entry, the call between two headings that both fit, valuation, anything said to CBP, and every message to an importer, which the agents draft and your broker sends.

> 📋 **The agents may** read the importer documents your brokerage already holds, search the schedule, its notes and CROSS, draft the file and the questions, and flag dictionary products when the schedule moves. **They never** put a code on an entry, transmit anything to CBP, email an importer or touch valuation.

Your clients’ records are confidential under the broker regulations, so the scope is signed first: which importer files and systems the agents may open, and where the data sits while they work. They open only the importer files a product needs, and every step is logged, so the file shows what the agents did as well as what your broker decided.

Let Qvery Prepare the File Behind Every New Code: https://calendly.com/qvery-vlad/30min

## We Begin With Codes Your Broker Already Chose

We start with your broker: how the desk classifies today, the sources they trust, the importers whose descriptions never say enough, and the rules the agents will follow. Then we run the agents on a month of products your desk has already classified, so the first files your broker reads are on goods where they know the answer.

Once access is in place, the agents are working on new products beside your classifiers within **two weeks**. Each week we count the minutes a product takes and the files your broker changed, and the changes tell us which rule the agents need next.

The same desk compares each shipment’s invoice, packing list and bill of lading before an entry is written, and checks demurrage bills after it.

Our logistics page shows the agents we build for that paperwork.

AI agents for logistics: https://qvery.ai/logistics/

The products that took your broker longest last month are the first ones we put through the agents, because those are the files that should get shorter first.

## Frequently asked questions



### Can AI make the final HTS classification?

Not on goods your brokerage enters for an importer. CBP’s January 2026 ruling HQ H350722 says a tool is not a person, so the decision on what goes on an entry is a licensed customs broker’s. AI may still suggest headings and draft the reasoning; the choice and the signature stay with the licensed person.

### Who is liable if an AI-suggested code is wrong?

The importer of record owes reasonable care on every code; the penalty caps run from twice the duty lost for negligence to four times for gross negligence, each limited by the goods’ domestic value. Your brokerage answers for supervising its customs business. The software vendor answers for neither.

### Is a six-digit code different?

Yes. CBP has long held that classifying to six digits, the international Harmonized System level, is not customs business, and an importer security filing uses six digits for that reason. Entries need ten digits, and suggesting ten-digit codes for goods that will be entered takes a license.

### What if CBP later disagrees with a code?

The dated file shows what the code rested on and when, which is what your broker needs to answer CBP’s request for information or, with counsel, correct the entry. Where duty was underpaid, the statute caps the penalty for a person who discloses the error before CBP opens a formal investigation.

### Who on our team reviews the agents’ files?

Your licensed brokers, or classifiers working under their supervision as they do today, with a licensed broker making every decision. CBP’s January ruling asks that a licensed person decide and shape what any tool produces, and the broker regulations already hold your licensed brokers to supervising the brokerage’s customs business.

### Do the agents handle Chapter 99 tariffs?

They list the Chapter 99 lines that come with each candidate code, so your broker sees the extra duty before choosing, and they flag dictionary products when a revision moves those lines. Which programs apply to an entry, and any exclusion, stays with your broker.

### What if the importer’s description is too vague?

The agents say so instead of guessing. The file names the fact the code turns on, such as fiber content or whether a device works on its own, and drafts the question for the importer. Your broker sends it, and the product waits for the answer.

### Do the agents learn from the broker’s corrections?

Every code your broker signs goes into your parts dictionary with its reasoning, so the next shipment of the same goods matches a decision your broker made. When your broker changes a file, the change and the reason are kept, and repeated corrections become rules your broker approves.

### Can they work with our entry software?

They read the shared inbox, the importer files and the parts dictionary in your entry software, and write to your broker’s queue. They never transmit anything to CBP. Which system holds the queue is agreed with you before they start.

### Should we ask CBP for a binding ruling instead?

For a product that will repeat and sits between two headings, often yes, and the file is most of the request. CBP issues binding rulings on written requests about goods not yet imported, while its oral advice binds nobody. The file shows your broker which products deserve one.

### Do the agents replace our classifiers?

No. They take the reading, searching and drafting that fills a classifier’s day, so your licensed people spend their hours on decisions, gray-area products, ruling requests and importers’ questions. On the example, that moves 2,640 hours a year from research to judgment.

### Does a disclaimer on an AI tool’s codes protect us?

No. The tool in CBP’s January 2026 ruling carried a disclaimer, and CBP still found customs business wherever its codes were for goods being entered through the platform. A 2022 ruling reached the same answer for a supplier that sent its customers codes marked for information only. Who decides the code doesn’t change with the fine print.

### What if an importer describes the same product three ways?

The agents match on the facts, not the name: material, function, the supplier’s model number, the country of origin. When a new line looks like goods your broker already classified under another description, the file shows the earlier decision, and your broker confirms it or treats the product as new.

### How much do the agents cost to keep running?

On the example, about $900 a month: $500 for hosting and upkeep and roughly a dollar a product in model usage, an estimate. Our build is priced once, upfront, for a result we agree with you before any work starts.

### Can our importers rely on AI for their own codes?

An importer classifying its own goods needs no license, since the law exempts customs business done solely for oneself, but it still owes reasonable care. CBP has also said that relying on classification advice from someone who is not a broker or other qualified expert does not establish reasonable care.