Checklist
Tariff cost recovery checklist for a records-first screen.
Use this checklist before paying for deeper trade recovery or drawback review. It keeps the first conversation focused on records, materiality, and control.
1. Materiality.
Estimate annual duty and tariff spend, the affected product families, and the margin pools where the cost lands. If the cost pool is too small or too uncertain, stop before source-file work expands.
2. Source systems.
Name the owners of broker reports, ACE exports, ERP landed cost, inventory records, export files, replacement records, return records, and finance views. If no owner can be named, the first task is internal mapping.
3. Matching keys.
Identify whether SKU, item, lot, serial, shipment, invoice, purchase order, sales order, or BOM relationships connect import records to downstream activity. Separate strong matches, weak matches, and unmatched records.
4. Specialist handoff.
Decide what questions belong with a licensed broker, drawback specialist, attorney, CPA, or trade professional. Trade Recovery Data prepares the data screen only and does not provide claim-facing services.
Related guides: data screen overview, duty drawback data readiness, and tariff margin trade recovery.