FAQs - Customs & Border Control
Frequently Asked Questions
Customs Online System (COLS) – General Support
We can assist in resolving the issues by forwarding the details to E-services. In order for us to assist, we ask that you email CBCOnlineSupport@gov.ky the following:
- Screenshot of the error.
- Summary of the steps you took to try to access the account.
If you are seeing a ‘No Association to this user’ message on your login screen this may be due to technical reasons. If you are receiving this error message please contact CBCOnlineSupport@gov.ky or a member of our support team on 1-345-649-4579 option 0 extension 1.
Please take a look at the recipients list the email you received was sent to (or select the “reply to all” option), this will provide you with the name of the agent that submitted the declaration to CBC for processing. We advise that you first contact the agent to find out what has been declared on your behalf, or check your COLS account. A declaration may have been submitted on your COLS account in error by the agent. If the agent made an error, that entity will be able to address the issue with our office.
You need to contact E-services for assistance as the email address used to log on, does not log you into COLS, it logs you into E-services, which facilitates the portal used to access your COLS account. You can contact E-Services by email at eServices@gov.ky or by telephone on 345-244-3621.
No. The Customs Online Accounts are locked to the email address used to establish the account at the time of registration. If you need the email to be changed re-registration using the intended account will be necessary.
Yes. But only for company accounts. This request must be emailed to CBCOnlineSupport@gov.ky and can only be made by the owner of the COLS account or the Senior Member of the Organization responsible for business accounts. Please accompany the request with valid copy of the Business License/Operational License, and a team member will action this request.
If you have registered as an organization employee the association to your COLS account must be linked by the administrator for your organization’s COLS account. Once the association has been added you will be provided with access to your Organization’s COLS account to make declarations on the company’s behalf.
COLS is not used at this time for refund applications. Refunds are currently still processed manually. Please download a CF1 Customs Import Entry Form available on our website www.cbc.gov.ky. Fill out the form with the particulars from your previous shipment, attach all documents originally submitted through COLS when the declaration was imported, processed and paid for.
Be sure to include the CBC Payment Receipt and a brief explanation as to what you are requesting the refund for. Two hardcopies of your refund application should be submitted to the Cargo Processing Office at 42 Owen Roberts Drive, George Town.
For duties paid through a courier or consolidator please refer to these companies for the process they have in place for submitting a refund application on your behalf. Email us at CBCOnlineSupport@gov.ky for further assistance if necessary.
Customs Online System (COLS) – Making Declarations
To communicate directly with the Processing Officer, you may attach a note to your declaration on the upload documents page in COLS. Where the Processing Officer has arrived at a different figure from what you have declared on your declaration and you believe this to be an error, you may upload a spreadsheet or a calculation listing with the figures you have used.
Once re-submitted, your listing will be used to compare against the Officer’s totals and the documentation you have attached to your declaration. You may also visit the Cargo Processing Office located at 42 Owen Roberts Drive, George Town; to speak with an Officer for further assistance.
To unlock the preference column, you need only to make a change to information entered on the row where the preference is grayed out. We recommend that you make a change to the tariff code, this will reset the entire row and open up the preference column. Once the preference column has been opened you may then change the tariff selection to the original code you entered.
If this does not work, you can add a new line for the declaration, then re-enter the declaration information, apply the relevant preference and then delete the old declaration line.
Personal effects are entered in COLS the same as all declarations however you will have to attach to your import declaration a completed C5 Unaccompanied Used Personal Effects Form available on our website www.CBC.Gov.ky
A post entry is now called an Adjustment Declaration in COLS. Below are the steps to enter this declaration in COLS:
- Search COLS for the declaration you did the inspection on. In the same area
where you would see ‘Edit’ which will now be grayed out, you will see
‘Adjustment.’ - Click on Adjustment. This will take you back into the previously submitted
declaration. - Depending on the adjustment criteria change may be needed to be made on
the Consignment and or the Financials page in COLS. - Correct the number of packages or cubic ft if the changes are to be made on
the consignment page. - On the Financials page increase the value you have already declared by the
new amount specified on the inspection assessment form. - Add an addition line to your declaration on the Items page in COLS to reflect
the additional amounts as per the inspection. - Attach the Bill of lading, Inspection Assessment form and any other
documents that supported the Inspection to the Upload Documents page in
COLS.- Resubmit declaration for processing.
An adjustment declaration is submitted in the queue under normal processing times. Please allow between 2 - 3 days for processing.
Please contact CBC Online Support either by telephone or email at CBCOnlineSupport@gov.ky or 649-4579 option 0 extension 1 with the declaration number, review the matter.
A declaration will still need to be made on COLS for your pet arriving on island as Cargo. You will need to attach an Agriculture Release Document, issued by the Agriculture Department.
To expedite the clearance of your pet through COLS you will need to change the shipment type from Regular to Live Pet on the Consignment page in COLS. This will prioritize the declaration on our end of the system for processing.
Customs Online System (COLS) - Processing Short Shipments
This is the type of shipment that we either call a short shipment or Split Shipment. A declaration is needed for every Airway Bill/ Bill of Lading that you have received. In the event that you have one invoice and the items are arriving over more than one Airway Bill/Bill of Lading, you are to declare your shipment as follows:
Step 1
Use one of the Airway Bills/ Bill of Ladings to make a normal declaration, declaring
all the items from the invoices (remember to exclude Tax as CBC does not collect on
Tax)
Step 2
Declare the remaining Airway Bills/ Bill of Ladings each as separate declarations
To make a short shipment declaration for each of the remaining Airway Bills/ Bill of
Ladings, do the following:
When making the declaration, the following will need to be done/uploaded:
- Make the declaration as you normally would.
- Description should be: Short shipped (name of the goods). Duty paid on
declaration (Previous declaration number) - Cost should be: $0
- If other items are in the shipment with these short-shipped goods,
they should be placed on their own separate line of declaration.
(Tick the Pro-rate freight and Insurance Boxes on the financials
page, if necessary)
UPLOADS
You will need to upload the relevant Airway Bills/ Bill of Ladings for this shipment
and also provide short shipment supporting documents which are:
- The duty payment receipt for when the duty was paid.
- The Bill of Lading or Airway Bill for the shipment when the duty was paid.
- All the previous invoices relating to when the duty was paid.
We suggest that you scan all supporting documents together as one document,
highlighting or noting the items that were short shipped.
If you have a short-shipped item arriving in a shipment, that is, where duties have already been paid but items never received. You will enter a declaration in COLS as normal, however in the section that asks for you to provide cost, this area is to be left at zero. CBC will collect duties only on the additional freight charged by the shipper and 1% insurance where insurance was not included in the freight.
You will be required to attach a copy of your CBC Duty Payment Receipt to your supporting documents to show where you have already paid the duties on the item that has arrived in the shipment. Note: Short-shipments may be subject to Customs Inspections prior to processing and or release.
Split shipments can be entered in one of two ways in COLS as follows:
First method:
- Declare the entire invoice on 1 Airway Bill.
- Once a Declaration number is generated for that Airway Bill with the entire invoice declared, take note of it.
- On the other declarations sharing the same invoice number, Print and make a
note on the Airway Bill and/or Invoice that this is a, ‘Split shipment – Total
invoice declared on Declaration number XXX.’ - You will still declare the Freight and Insurance of the other declarations but
the cost will be $0. - Declare the $0 cost declarations with the correct Tariff and Description.
- Remember to state that this is a split shipment in your notes for the description field.
Second Method:
If the tracking numbers correctly correspond with the information on the Airway Bill/
Bill of Lading:
- Print copies of invoice to correspond to each Airway Bill or Bill of Lading.
- Write a note on the invoices indicating the Items being declared for the Airway
Bill/Bill of Lading it is declared on. Also note the actual totals being declared. Do
not cross out information on the invoice, just add notes. - Declare the amounts noted on the Invoice.
- Do the same for every Airway Bill/Bill Of Lading.
Customs Online System (COLS) - Duties
If prior to payment you suspect that you have been overcharged duties you may call the Customer Support Center (on 1-345-649-4579 option 0 extension 1) to confirm if the declaration that has been processed is correct. A request can also be made via email to CBCOnlineSupport@gov.ky from the email address associated with the COLS account with a reason why a suspension should be given.
If payment has been made, you may visit the Cargo Processing Office on the same day of payment to have the entry reviewed and reversed for corrections to be made. After the payment date you will have to apply for a refund for any discrepancies found.
You are to enter your Customs Online declaration in US currency. Should you have invoices that are in a different currency please access a currency converter website such as www.xe.com to exchange the values to US Dollars. You are then required to upload a pdf copy of the currency conversion obtained online as a supporting document.
Customs Online System (COLS) – Courier and Other Agent Shipments
Shipments that arrive via courier can only be cleared by the respective courier company. If a package is held up with a courier, please get in contact with the company as soon as you can, to verify what is needed to satisfy Customs and Border Control so they can submit the declaration for your incoming shipment.
If the courier is unable to tell you why the package is being held and you have the declaration number, then you can call our support team on 649-4579 option 0 extension 1, or email us at CBCOnlineSupport@gov.ky for further assistance.
If you have received an email that states that the declaration is ready for payment by your agent, the agent will action this with CBC. The email you received serves only as notification to you that the declaration has been processed out of our system. The next steps would be for the agent to make payment to CBC, then collect the items and notify you when its ready to be collected.
Please note that consolidations must be released together therefore receiving this notification does not necessarily mean that the whole consolidation has been processed, only that your entry within the consolidation has been accepted. For consolidations please allow additional time for collection due to the processing criteria.
Prior to making a declaration for a shipment sent as a gift, please reach out to the person sending you the package and request that the receipt be sent to you.
If a receipt cannot be obtained, let your agent know and ask them to relay this information to the CBC Courier Officer, so that an inspection and re-valuation can be done to avoid further delays with processing.
