Why Enforcement Is Intensifying Right Now
Three forces are converging to make 2026 the most aggressive enforcement year in modern U.S. customs history.
The revenue incentive is enormous. Customs duties generated $264 billion in calendar year 2025, more than triple the $79 billion collected in 2024. That money matters to the federal government. CBP has every reason to ensure that every dollar owed is collected, and every reason to go after importers who are underpaying, misclassifying, or claiming preferences they do not qualify for.
CBP has shifted from facilitation to enforcement. Trade compliance attorneys have documented a clear shift in CBP's posture. Through 2024, the agency's primary orientation was trade facilitation, helping goods move efficiently across the border. In 2025, that orientation shifted to enforcement, and that shift is expected to accelerate in 2026. The practical result is more CF-28 Requests for Information, more CF-29 Notices of Action, more Focused Assessments, and more civil penalties.
AI-powered targeting is finding problems faster. CBP has invested millions in artificial intelligence capabilities for supply chain mapping, anomaly detection, and risk scoring. The agency can now identify patterns of potential transshipment, undervaluation, and classification inconsistencies across thousands of entries simultaneously. Problems that might have gone undetected for years are now being flagged in weeks.
On top of all of this, whistleblower activity is increasing. False Claims Act qui tam complaints focused on duty evasion give individual whistleblowers a direct financial stake in identifying customs violations. This means that your employees, former employees, competitors, or business partners have a monetary incentive to report suspected noncompliance to the government.
The Five Most Common Audit Triggers
CBP uses a risk-based approach to select importers for audit. Understanding what raises your risk score is the first step in managing it.
1. Classification Inconsistencies
When the HTS codes on your entries do not match the product descriptions on your commercial invoices, or when your classifications differ from the codes used by other importers for the same products, CBP's targeting systems flag the discrepancy. Misclassification accounts for 42% of all CBP customs penalties, making it the single most common compliance failure.
2. Valuation Anomalies
If the declared value of your goods is significantly lower than the market value for similar products, or if related-party transactions suggest transfer pricing that does not reflect arm's length value, your entries will attract attention. CBP auditors compare your declared values against industry benchmarks, prior entries, and data from other importers. Sudden drops in declared value or inconsistencies between your commercial invoice and your entry summary are red flags.
3. Country of Origin Shifts
When an importer that historically sourced from China suddenly begins declaring goods as originating from Vietnam, Malaysia, or Mexico, CBP treats that shift as a potential indicator of transshipment or origin fraud. The shift may be entirely legitimate, but it will be scrutinized. CBP's AI systems are specifically trained to identify these patterns and flag them for review.
4. Preference Claim Surges
The share of Canadian and Mexican imports claiming USMCA exemption surged to 85% in aggregate by early 2026, driven by the tariff pressure that makes non-qualifying goods dramatically more expensive. CBP knows that some of these claims are legitimate responses to tariff changes. But the agency also knows that a spike in preference claims creates an opportunity for importers to claim benefits they have not earned. Expect increased verification of USMCA claims, particularly for importers who began claiming preference recently.
5. Intelligence and Referrals
CBP audits are often triggered by referrals from other government agencies (FDA, CPSC, EPA), by tips from competitors or whistleblowers, or by intelligence gathered from prior examinations of your shipments. If a port examination revealed a discrepancy on one of your entries six months ago, that information feeds into the targeting system and increases the probability of a broader audit.
What CBP Actually Looks at During an Audit
CBP's Trade Regulatory Audit division conducts several types of assessments, but the most comprehensive is the Focused Assessment (FA). Understanding the process removes the mystery and helps you prepare.
Phase 1: Pre-Assessment Survey (PAS). The auditor reviews select import entries, general ledger accounts, and foreign vendor payments. You will be asked to complete a questionnaire about your business, your import operations, and your compliance procedures. The auditor is evaluating whether your internal controls are sufficient to ensure accurate customs declarations. If your controls are found acceptable, the audit may end here.
Phase 2: Assessment Compliance Testing (ACT). If the PAS identifies unacceptable risk, CBP moves to transaction-level testing. Auditors select specific entries from your prior financial year and compare the declared information against your internal records, supplier invoices, production documents, and payment records. They are looking for discrepancies in classification, valuation, country of origin, and preference claims.
Phase 3: Follow-up. After testing, CBP issues a report stating whether the company was found compliant or noncompliant. If noncompliant, CBP will request a Compliance Improvement Plan (CIP) and may schedule further testing. Serious violations may be referred for formal investigation under 19 U.S.C. § 1592 or other enforcement actions.
CBP audits typically review entries from the past five years. A classification error or valuation issue that has been compounding across hundreds of entries creates a retroactive liability that grows with every shipment filed.
The Penalty Math That Should Keep You Up at Night
The financial consequences of audit findings depend on your level of culpability.
Negligence. You failed to exercise reasonable care. Penalties when revenue is lost can reach two times the unpaid duties. When no revenue is lost, penalties range from 5% to 20% of the domestic value of the merchandise.
Gross negligence. You significantly departed from reasonable care. Penalties when revenue is lost can reach four times the unpaid duties. When no revenue is lost, penalties range from 20% to 40% of domestic value.
Fraud. You intentionally made false declarations. Penalties can reach the full domestic value of the merchandise. Criminal prosecution is possible, and in some cases has been pursued. The Ninth Circuit upheld a $26 million verdict against a single importer in June 2025.
Federal adjustments to civil monetary penalties took effect in 2025 and increased some penalty amounts. Combined with the higher enforcement activity, the potential monetary exposure for any compliance failure has grown significantly.
And here is the detail that escalates the stakes further: CBP has confirmed that when a prior disclosure is not submitted and an audit is performed, it will be the agency's policy to recommend issuance of more penalties than what has been traditionally done in the Focused Assessment environment. The era of lenient audit outcomes is ending.
The Prior Disclosure Advantage
Prior disclosure is the single most powerful tool available to importers who discover compliance errors. Filing a prior disclosure with CBP before the agency discovers the problem, or before you have knowledge that an investigation has commenced, dramatically reduces your penalty exposure.
Under the prior disclosure process, the penalty is typically limited to the interest on unpaid duties plus the duties themselves. Compare that to the negligence penalty of two times lost revenue, and the math is clear. An importer who self-reports a $500,000 classification error might pay $500,000 in back duties plus interest. The same importer who waits for CBP to find it could face a $1 million penalty on top of the back duties.
The critical requirement is timing. A prior disclosure must be filed before CBP contacts you about the issue, or before you know that an investigation has begun. Once CBP sends an informed compliance notification letter (which the agency has confirmed means they are "strongly considering" your company for a comprehensive audit), the window for prior disclosure is narrowing fast.
This is why proactive self-auditing is not just a compliance best practice. It is a financial strategy. Finding and disclosing your own errors is categorically cheaper than having CBP find them for you.
How to Build an Audit-Ready Compliance Program
1. Assign a Named Compliance Owner
Someone in your organization must own customs compliance. Not "everyone is responsible." One named person who approves classification changes, reviews entry data, monitors regulatory updates, and serves as the point of contact for your broker and for CBP. If no one in your organization can answer the question "who is responsible for customs compliance," you are not ready for an audit.
2. Conduct Quarterly Self-Audits
Pull a sample of entries each quarter. Verify that HTS classifications are correct and current, that declared values match commercial invoices and payment records, that country of origin declarations are accurate and supported, and that all preference claims are backed by valid certificates of origin. Document the results. The audit trail of your self-review process is itself evidence of reasonable care.
3. Maintain Five Years of Complete Records
CBP audits review entries from the past five years. For every entry in that window, you should have the commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading or air waybill, entry summary, classification rationale, certificate of origin (if preference was claimed), supplier declarations, and payment records. Store digital copies in a secure, indexed system that allows retrieval within 24 hours.
4. Document Your Classification Reasoning
For every product you import, maintain a record of how and why the HTS code was selected. Include the product description analyzed, the General Rules of Interpretation applied, the section and chapter notes consulted, any CBP ruling letters reviewed, and the conclusion reached. This documentation is your primary defense against a negligence finding.
5. Coordinate With Your Customs Broker
Your broker files entries on your behalf, but the importer of record retains legal responsibility for the accuracy of those entries. Require your broker to keep classification rationale on file, to notify you when entries require special handling, and to flag any discrepancies between your declared data and what the broker observes in the shipping documents. A good broker is your first line of defense. A broker who files without verification is a liability.
6. Establish a Prior Disclosure Protocol
Decide now, before you find an error, what the process will be for evaluating and filing a prior disclosure. Who makes the decision? Who prepares the filing? What is the threshold for disclosure versus correction? Having this protocol in place means you can act quickly when a problem is discovered, before the window closes.
The Bottom Line
The importers who get audited and survive are not the ones with perfect records. They are the ones who can demonstrate that they exercised reasonable care, that they maintained complete documentation, and that they corrected errors promptly when discovered.
In a tariff environment where duty rates have quadrupled, where CBP revenue has tripled, and where AI-powered enforcement is identifying anomalies in real time, the cost of being unprepared for an audit is higher than it has ever been. The cost of being prepared is a fraction of what a single penalty assessment would be.
The question is not whether CBP will audit importers more aggressively in 2026. They already are. The question is whether your compliance program is ready for the call.
This guide reflects CBP enforcement practices and penalty structures as of April 3, 2026. Audit procedures, penalty amounts, and enforcement priorities are subject to change. Importers should consult with a licensed customs broker or trade counsel for guidance specific to their compliance posture and import operations.