Zone-to-Zone Transfers: Imported merchandise which is admitted into a zone and then shipped to another U.S. Foreign-Trade Zone can be shipped duty-free to the receiving zone. As duty-free transfers, Zone-to-Zone shipments allow both the shipping Zone and the receiving Zone to reduce their duty exposure. Duties are eliminated completely on imported components, which are transshipped through several Zones and eventually re-exported.

Duty Deferral: While duties are eventually assessed on imported merchandise shipped to U.S. locations from Foreign Trade Zones, these duties are deferred while the merchandise remains in the Zone. The time that duty is paid is moved from the date of importation to the date of shipment from the Zone. The cost-of-money savings on duty deferral can be significant for large-volume distributors, or operations with long inventory turnover periods.

Inverted tariffs: When components are imported and admitted into a Foreign-Trade Zone, they can be manufactured into a new product for re-export or sale in the U.S. In these cases, the importer may elect to apply the finished product duty rate, or the component duty rate, whichever is lower. When the finished product rate is lower than the imported component rate, the importer can save the difference between the two rates.

Inventory Taxes: In states that assess taxes on business inventories, all imported merchandise, and even domestic merchandise when held for export, can be stored in a Foreign Trade Zone without having to pay business inventory taxes.