An FTZ offers significant benefits to companies importing parts, components, assemblies or even finished goods. FTZ 125 is the officially designated zone serving six counties and facilitated by the St. Joseph County Airport Authority. With FTZ 125’s alternative site designation capabilities, the “zone” can exist on your property, and in your warehouse or manufacturing facility. You manage the movement and utilization of imported items. You manage when it hits your balance sheet. You can delay and/or reduce or even eliminate duty on imports and take advantage of other benefits to encourage foreign commerce within the region.

Potential Benefits

There are many potential benefits to activating with FTZ 125 if you do business internationally. Some are directly tangible and impactful such as direct and significant savings, other ancillary benefits are unexpected, such as increased efficiency in inventory management and accounting. To view the list of potential benefits, click here.

We recommend an objective third-party feasibility analysis as a first step to best evaluate the true benefits available to your organization. The FTZ 125 team can provide a list of experts to assist you with that analysis upon your request.

Some of the information you’ll want to have ready for the analysis of potential benefits includes:

• Total annual value of imported (dutiable) merchandise
• Number of customs entries made annually
• Total annual Merchandise Processing Fee(s) paid
• Average number of inventory turns for previous year
• HTS list of imported merchandise (see HTSUS)
• FTZ list of finished product (if manufacturing occurs)

Once you have determined your desire to activate, FTZ 125 and your consultant will guide you through the entire process.  A high-level summary of the process is:

• Contact FTZ 125 to make us aware of your intentions to activate.
• Apply to the National FTZ Board to have your facility approved.
• If pursuing production authority (that will allow you to capture an inverted tariff benefit), you will also need to complete an additional application to the National FTZ Board which will be posted in the Federal Register for public comment.
• Activate your FTZ site or subzone with Customs & Border Protection. This requires demonstrating requisite security measures and customs entries processes and procedures per the CBP Foreign Trade Zone manual.