CBP Expands Vessel Mobile Collections Pilot to Include Electronic Payments
CBP is going to conduct a test to allow for payment of "certain commercial vessel taxes and fees" with "electronic methods," including credit cards, the agency said. The pilot, announced in a Federal Register notice, will begin no earlier than Jan. 15, the agency said. Participation in the test is voluntary and will last two years.
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The announcement is part of Phase Two implementation of the Mobile Collections & Receipts (MCR) system, which was first started in 2018 (see 1712070029). When the pilot was first announced, participants were to be able to submit payments through the Automated Commercial Environment and Pay.gov before arriving at a designated port of entry.
The MCR system will automatically identify commercial vessels that are set to arrive at the port of entry. Once the CBP officer has the information needed, the officer will ask whether the agent wants to pay online or with the card reader. The card reader accepts credit cards and digital wallets, the agency said.
If online pay is selected, the "responsible entity" will get a notification email whereby it can review the information and submit a payment on Pay.gov, the agency said. For the test participants, CBP officers will not be required to get the signature of the CBP officer in charge, as is otherwise required for payments over $100 made with check or money order, CBP said.