Why most ACE Reports usage stops at the wrong level
Most US importers know ES-001 exists. Most have run it at least once, looked at the entry list, found it useful for tracking liquidation status and stopped there. ES-002 and ES-003 are less commonly used, harder to interpret without context and rarely surfaced in customs broker reporting. That is a missed opportunity, because the audit findings that matter live in the deeper reports.
CBP ACE Entry Summary reports are nested in granularity. ES-001 tells you which entries exist. ES-002 tells you what is inside each entry at the line level. ES-003 tells you how the duty arithmetic was performed at the tariff level. Together they form a complete picture from entry header through to individual tariff treatment. Apart, each one tells you less than half the story.
ES-001 Entry Summary Header
ES-001 is the entry-level report. One row per entry. It surfaces the entry number, importer of record, filing broker, mode of transport, port of entry, entry date, release date, liquidation date, total entered value, total duty, total fees and entry status.
What ES-001 gets you:
- Visibility of every entry filed under your IOR number
- Liquidation status tracking, which matters for protest windows and refund opportunities
- Header-level totals you reconcile against broker invoices and your AP records
- Identification of entries with unusually high duty as a percentage of value, a useful screening signal for deeper audit
What ES-001 does not get you:
- Any view inside the entry. What was imported? What HTS codes were used? What countries of origin were declared? You have no way to determine this from ES-001 alone.
ES-001 is the starting filter, not the destination.
ES-002 Entry Summary Line
ES-002 is the line-level report. Multiple rows per entry, one row per declared HTS line. It surfaces the HTS classification, the country of origin, the entered value at line level, the duty at line level, the line quantity, the unit of measure and the SPI (Special Processing Indicator) that flags tariff preference programmes such as USMCA, GSP or the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill.
What ES-002 gets you:
- Visibility of how each entry was classified at the HTS 10-digit level
- Country of origin per line, critical for Section 301, Section 232 and ADD/CVD exposure
- Identification of lines where duty as a percentage of value is outside the expected range for the HTS chapter
- Identification of preference programme usage or non-usage per line
What ES-002 does not get you:
- The tariff-level duty decomposition. You can see that duty was paid at line level, but you cannot tell whether that duty is base MFN, Section 232, Section 301, IEEPA or ADD/CVD. That decomposition lives in ES-003.
ES-002 is where classification and origin findings emerge. But without ES-003, you cannot decompose the duty arithmetic or identify which specific tariff component is wrong.
ES-003 Entry Summary Tariff
ES-003 is the tariff-level report. Multiple rows per ES-002 line, one row per tariff treatment applied to that line. It surfaces the duty type (base, Section 232, Section 301, IEEPA, ADD/CVD, harbour maintenance, merchandise processing), the rate, the dutiable value attributed to that treatment, and the duty calculated.
What ES-003 gets you:
- Full decomposition of duty into its constituent parts: base HTS rate, Section 232 rate and amount, Section 301 rate and amount, IEEPA rate and amount, ADD/CVD rate and amount, fees
- Identification of whether Section 232 was applied as a direct steel/aluminium rate or a derivative rate, and at what percentage
- Identification of whether Section 301 was applied from the correct list (1, 2, 3, 4A, 4B) and at the correct rate
- Identification of whether IEEPA duty was applied, and at which rate tier
- Verification of whether ADD/CVD was applied under the correct case number and manufacturer-specific rate
What ES-003 unlocks that ES-001 and ES-002 cannot:
- Recovery of overpaid Section 232 duty where the derivative rate was applied incorrectly or the steel/aluminium content was misstated
- Recovery of Section 301 duty where the HTS is wrong and the correct classification falls under an exclusion
- Identification of IEEPA duty paid on entries where a subsequent rate reduction or exemption applies
- Identification of ADD/CVD duty paid under the wrong case number or at the all-others rate instead of a manufacturer-specific rate
Three worked scenarios from our engagements
Scenario 1: Section 232 derivative steel article
A US importer brings in a finished steel product. ES-001 shows the entry, the broker, the dates and the total duty paid. ES-002 shows the line with HTS classification 7308.90 (structural steel) and country of origin Germany. Duty paid at line level looks reasonable as a percentage of value. Without ES-003, the story ends there.
ES-003 reveals the duty was calculated as base MFN rate (zero on most structural steel) plus Section 232 derivative duty on the steel content at 50%. If the steel content was lower than declared, or if the steel was melted and poured in a country with a Section 232 exclusion, the Section 232 calculation may be overstated by tens of thousands of dollars per entry. The refund opportunity is only visible at the ES-003 grain.
Scenario 2: Misapplied Section 301
A Chinese-origin item enters with an HTS classification that triggers Section 301 List 3 duty at 25%. ES-002 shows the line, the HTS, the origin and the duty paid. ES-003 reveals the duty arithmetic: base MFN rate of 5%, plus 25% Section 301, plus a specific rate component.
If the HTS is wrong and the correct classification falls under a Section 301 exclusion, the entire 25% is recoverable through a post-summary correction or protest, depending on liquidation status. ES-001 and ES-002 alone do not surface this. Only the ES-003 decomposition makes the recovery candidate visible.
Scenario 3: Country of origin shift
A product assembled in Vietnam from Chinese components is declared as Vietnam origin on ES-002. ES-003 confirms the duty was calculated without Section 301. If the substantial transformation analysis is weak, CBP might later determine China origin and assess Section 301 retroactively, with interest and penalties.
The reverse also applies. If a product was conservatively declared as China origin and a properly documented substantial transformation analysis supports Vietnam origin, the Section 301 paid is recoverable. Either direction, ES-003 is where the duty calculation is documented and where the recovery or exposure becomes quantifiable.
The audit value of running all three
For US importers paying meaningful duty, particularly under Section 232, Section 301 or IEEPA, an audit that runs only at the ES-001 level captures less than 10% of the available findings. An audit that runs at the ES-002 level captures perhaps 40%. An audit that runs across all three captures the rest, because the duty arithmetic that drives refund opportunities is only visible at the ES-003 grain.
Most US brokers do not produce all three reports as part of standard reporting. Many produce ES-001 only. A meaningful customs audit needs all three on a recurring schedule, fed into a system that reconciles them against your commercial records and against current Section 232, Section 301, IEEPA and ADD/CVD positions.
How to access all three
Configuring CBP to deliver ES-001, ES-002 and ES-003 to a customs audit team is a documented process and forms part of our standard US engagement pack. The data flow is broker-agnostic. The licensed filing party remains your existing broker, or our partner Trade-IQ LLC where you prefer a single licensed broker for both data access and filing. The architecture sits cleanly within 19 U.S.C. §1641 boundaries: MyCustomsInfo® observes, reconciles and surfaces; the licensed broker files.
If you would like to see what the audit finds in your own data, request a complimentary review of three months of your declarations, under NDA and a data processing agreement. No obligation.
Ready to take action? Section 232 compliance audit and tariff exposure analysis with MyCustomsInfo®.
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