Global trade is complex, and for businesses importing goods into the United States, accurately managing tariffs and duties is crucial. Tariff miscalculations can lead to compliance issues, unexpected costs and margin of erosion. Many organizations searching for ways to manage landed cost, import duties, HS codes and item charges in Microsoft Dynamics Business Central quickly realize that while the system tracks inventory and purchasing well, it does not automatically calculate tariffs based on country of origin or product classification. This often leads teams to rely on spreadsheets or manual adjustments to handle duty calculation inside their ERP.
Understanding what Business Central can do natively and where additional automation can help is an important first step toward improving accuracy and efficiency.
Why Import Duty Management Matters
U.S. tariffs are not static; they vary by product classification, country of origin and trade agreements. For companies handling multiple SKUs and suppliers, manual tracking quickly becomes error-prone. A single mistake can result in:
- Overpayment of duties, impacting cash flow.
- Underpayment, leading to penalties and audits.
- Delays in customs clearance, disrupting your supply chain.
Effective import duty management is not just a compliance requirement – it directly affects cost control and operational continuity.
How Business Central Handles Landed Cost and Import Duty Accounting
Business Central offers a centralized platform for managing your financials, inventory and supply chain. When it comes to imported goods, it enables organizations to:
- Track items, vendors, and purchase activity, including country of origin and HS codes
- Manage purchase orders, receipts, and invoices within a single system
- Post landed costs and maintain real-time visibility into inventory valuation and profitability
- Handle multi-currency transactions and financial reporting
These capabilities provide a solid foundation for managing imports and understanding overall cost structure.
Where Business Central Falls Short for Duty and Tariff Calculation
While Business Central supports landed cost accounting, it does not natively calculate tariffs based on HS codes, country of origin, or item categories. Key item attributes, such as vendor origin, HS code, and item category, exist within the system, but they are primarily informational and not automatically used to calculate duty amounts.
As a result, landed cost calculations rely on manual adjustments or custom extensions. This approach increases administrative effort and introduces inconsistencies that can affect reporting and compliance.
Best Practices for Import Duty Management
To improve accuracy and control, organizations using Business Central should focus on a few core best practices:
- Keep Item Card updated: Ensure Product Category, Vendor Origin and HS Codes are updated and accurate.
- Integrate customs data: Sync with customs brokers or trade compliance tools for real-time updates.
- Monitor regulatory changes: Tariff rates can shift with trade policies; stay informed and agile.
Even with these practices in place, many teams find that additional automation is needed to fully streamline tariff management.
Automating Import Duty Calculation in Business Central
As a practical extension of Business Central’s landed cost capabilities, Withum developed the U.S. Tariff Calculator to automate duty management directly within Business Central. Learn more about the extension available in Microsoft AppSource.
The extension allows organizations to define tariff rules based on item category, country of origin and HS code, and apply those rules automatically during purchase order and invoice processing. Tariff amounts are applied as item charge lines within Business Central’s standard workflow.
We introduced a Tariff Amount field on the Item Card to capture tariff values when specified individually.
Additionally, we created a Tariff Setup table that stores tariff amounts based on a combination of Vendor Country, Item Category, and HS Code.
During tariff calculations, our extension uses these setup values in conjunction with item properties. If the Item Card does not have a tariff amount defined, the system automatically refers to the Tariff Setup table and provides options on Purchase Orders and Invoices to calculate tariffs accurately.
This extension helps organizations:
- Instantly calculate duties based on product category and origin.
- Simulate cost scenarios for better planning.
- Analyze tariff costs through built-in reporting
- Reduce manual errors and speed up customs documentation.
By extending Business Central’s native capabilities, the U.S. Tariff Calculator makes tariff management more efficient and easier to maintain as trade conditions evolve.
Ready to Simplify Import Duty Management?
Managing U.S. import duties doesn’t have to be manual or error-prone. The U.S. Tariff Calculator is available in Microsoft AppSource and can be added to new or existing Business Central environments.
Explore the extension to see how automated tariff calculation can support compliance, improve accuracy and reduce operational effort within Business Central.
Authors: Kalpana Sivanandan, Lead, Business Process Automation and Nikhil Bheemreddy
Contact Us
For more information on this topic, reach out to Withum’s CRM and ERP Consulting Services Team.
