HTS Rate Overrides: Manual Duty Rate Overrides in WMS Settings
When the standard duty rate for an HTS code does not match your real rate, add a manual override in WMS Settings — it wins over the USITC weekly sync and the builtin table in every landed cost calculation.
Landed cost needs a duty rate for every product, and Docklify normally looks it up for you. But rates change, rulings differ, and sometimes you simply know the rate your broker actually applies. For those cases, WMS → Settings → HTS Rate Overrides (/wms/settings/hts-overrides) lets you pin your own rate to an HTS code. From then on, every landed cost calculation that hits that code uses your rate first — no spreadsheet on the side, no manual adjustment after the fact.
How the rate is picked: three levels, in order#
| Priority | Source | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (wins) | Your manual override on this page | The rate you pinned to the HTS code is used as-is. |
| 2 | USITC weekly sync | The official US rate table, refreshed weekly, used when no override exists. |
| 3 | Builtin common-rates table | Fallback for codes not covered by the sync. |
In plain words: an override only affects its own HTS code, and only for your company. Every other code keeps following the USITC sync or the builtin table, and the Landed Cost Calculator and purchase-order landed cost estimates pick the override up automatically — there is no separate switch to turn on.
Step 1: Add an override#
- Open WMS → Settings → HTS Rate Overrides. The list shows every override you already have: HTS code, rate, note and last updated time.
- Click “Add override” at the top right.
- Enter the HTS code. Type it the way you know it — dots, dashes and spaces are stripped automatically (9403.60 is stored as 940360).
- Enter the Rate as a percent: 15 means 15%. The value must be between 0 and 100.
- Add a Note saying why this rate applies (for example the ruling or broker advice it is based on) — future you will thank present you. Then click Save.
- The override takes effect as soon as you save — the next landed cost calculation for that code already uses it.
- Rates are shown in the list as percentages with two decimals, so 0.25 in storage reads as 25.00%.
- Not sure which HTS code a product belongs to? Look it up first in Customs → HTS classification, then come back and pin the rate here.
Step 2: Edit an override#
- Find the row in the list on WMS → Settings → HTS Rate Overrides and click Edit.
- Change the HTS code, rate or note, then Save. The updated time on the row refreshes, so you can always tell when a rate was last touched.
Step 3: Delete an override you no longer need#
Click Delete on the row and confirm. Deleting is not “setting the rate to zero”: the code immediately falls back to the next level down — the USITC weekly sync rate, or the builtin table if the sync has no entry — from the next calculation on.
Keeping the list tidy#
- When a rate changes, edit the row that is already there for that code instead of piling up look-alike rows — the list stays readable and the newest intent is obvious.
- Write the note like a receipt: who decided this rate, based on what, and from when. “Broker confirmed 2026-09” ages much better than “temp”.
- After adding or changing an override, re-run the Landed Cost Calculator for one affected product and check the duty line — it should show your pinned rate.
Docklify features used in this article#
- WMS → Settings → HTS Rate Overrides (/wms/settings/hts-overrides): add, edit and delete per-code duty rate overrides with notes
- Landed Cost Calculator (Utilities): duty lookup follows override → USITC weekly sync → builtin table
- Customs → HTS classification lookup: find the right HTS code for a product before pinning a rate