Duty drawback pre-claim screen
A duty drawback pre-claim screen should organize records before opinions.
If a company paid meaningful duties or tariffs and later exported, manufactured for export, rejected, replaced, or destroyed goods, the first question is whether the evidence path is clean enough to justify specialist time.
What the pre-claim screen answers.
- Which import records exist and who owns them?
- Which export, manufacturing, rejection, replacement, or destruction records might matter?
- Which business keys can connect the records?
- Which duty categories should be separated before anyone models a recovery range?
- Which questions should go to a licensed broker, drawback specialist, attorney, CPA, or trade professional?
Why this comes before a claim-facing conversation.
A drawback discussion can get expensive if the buyer starts with a refund target instead of records. A pre-claim screen keeps the work narrow: organize the evidence, test materiality, list gaps, and decide whether a specialist review is worth pursuing.
When the answer should be no.
The answer should be no or not yet when exports cannot be identified, match keys are missing, source-file authority is unclear, duty categories cannot be separated, or leadership expects an unlicensed eligibility opinion or refund guarantee.
Trade Recovery Data provides a data-readiness screen only. It does not provide legal advice, customs brokerage, HTS classification, drawback eligibility opinions, claim preparation, claim filing, or refund guarantees.