Paperwork is where freight loses days. Tide starts it before the ship does.

A broker holds a federal license that makes them personally accountable to CBP for the accuracy of every entry they file, with penalties that attach to them individually if they file something false or negligent. Software can draft an entry from documents, but it cannot hold that license or bear that liability. Tide's agents do the drafting; the broker reads the draft against the source documents, corrects what needs correcting, and files it under their own name. That accountability is the actual product, not a formality bolted onto the software.

A wrong classification can mean underpaid duty, which draws penalties and interest when CBP catches it, or overpaid duty, which just sits as money you never recover unless you file a protest. It can also trigger holds if the code implies a different regulatory regime, like an FDA or USDA product. Tide's model proposes a classification with its reasoning and a confidence score, but a broker confirms it before it goes on any filing, and low-confidence proposals are flagged for extra review rather than filed on a guess.

The agents handle everything that is mechanical: pulling data off the commercial invoice, packing list, and bill of lading, proposing HS codes, computing duty, and assembling the entry package the moment a shipment books. The broker's job is judgment: does this classification hold up, does this documentation actually support what is being declared, is this the kind of shipment that needs a second look before it goes to CBP. The agents do not file anything. The broker's review and signature are what make an entry legally filed.

The Importer Security Filing, sometimes called 10+2, is a set of data elements US Customs requires from the importer or their agent at least 24 hours before an ocean container is loaded at the foreign port, separate from the entry filed at arrival. Missing or late ISF filings carry a flat penalty per violation regardless of whether anything is wrong with the cargo. Because Tide has the booking and the commercial documents as soon as a shipment is confirmed, the ISF is typically ready well before that 24-hour cutoff instead of being a last-minute scramble.

Drawback recovers duty already paid, most commonly when the imported goods (or a qualifying substitute) are later exported or destroyed, or when they are used as an input to something that is exported. Eligibility depends on matching the specific import entry to a later export within the statutory window and keeping the records to prove that link, which is exactly the kind of paperwork trail that gets lost when imports and exports are handled by different systems. Tide tracks that link automatically where both sides of the trade run through the platform and flags entries that look eligible; a licensed broker still has to build and file the actual claim.

Yes. Customs brokerage does not require Tide to be the freight forwarder of record; a broker can file an entry for cargo that arrived on another forwarder's booking as long as the importer of record authorizes it and the underlying documents are complete. In practice this usually means feeding the same commercial invoice, packing list, and bill of lading into Tide that you would hand any broker, and the drafting and review process runs the same way it does for freight Tide booked itself.