During the holiday season, most of you sent gifts by mail and private carriers to distant relatives and friends. I, for one, sent gifts to my family in Bayamón, Puerto Rico.

The first thing to note, unless any of the commodities that are being shipped are over $2,500 per Schedule B Number or require a license, you are not required to file in the AES. Since I’m not Santa Claus, all of my gifts were less than $2,500 value per Schedule B Number, so I didn’t have to file in the AES. However, considering the increase in shipments overseas for this season, I thought it would be a good idea to show you how to file your Electronic Export Information in the AES.

Lets take my shipment to Puerto Rico for example:

1. Under the Shipment Information section, you must select Puerto Rico as the Country of Destination. 
2. Determine your Mode of Transport. For shipments by vessel to any foreign destination, the port where the goods would first be unloaded from the vessel (Port of Unlading) is required to be entered in the AES. In my case, the shipment is transported by air to Puerto Rico. Note that this is the only instance where a shipment with a Mode of Transport of Air requires the Port of Unlading.
3. Under the Ultimate Consignee section, the State field must have Puerto Rico selected and the Country will be the United States. You’re also required to report the proper Postal Code.

On the opposite end, shipments from Puerto Rico to the United States are also very easy to report in the AES. For these shipments, report the Origin State as Puerto Rico and the Country of Destination as the United States. Remember, if it’s an air shipment, you’re required to enter a Port of Unlading. In the Ultimate Consignee section, provide the State and Postal Code where the merchandise is destined to and select the United States as the Country of Destination. I included that just in case my family needs to report any of the gifts that they plan on sending to the D.C. area (of course, it’s not too late to send the big screen T.V. I asked for…)

If you have additional questions about how to file shipments between the U.S. and Puerto Rico, contact one of our AES representatives at 1-800-549-0595, option 1.