CBP recommends carrying user fee payment proof

Carriers are being delayed at border crossings due to Customs and Border Protection’s inability to confirm online that annual user fee payments were made.    Carriers are increasingly being flagged at the border by U.S. Customs and Border Protection for not paying the annual user fee for their commercial vehicles when in fact they have, the agency acknowledged in a message to the trade on Wednesday.
   CBP blamed the problem on the prolonged federal government shutdown, which it said has impacted the National Finance Centers’ ability to process those payments.
   In the interim, the agency recommended that commercial vehicle operators carry with them a printed receipt confirming those payments were made when renewing or purchasing transponders online.
  “This receipt can then be used as proof of payment when crossing at ports of entry,” CBP said.