Companies locating here can utilize these programs allowing them to enhance business opportunities and help reduce expenses. An FTZ is a secured area considered to be outside of U.S. Customs territory, Freeport Business Centre is one of the designated general purpose FTZ locations. Freeport Business Centre offers FTZ sites conveniently accessible to interstate highways and railroads. The primary benefits of an FTZ is that both domestic and foreign goods can be placed in the Zone without formal customs entry, payment of customs duties or government excise taxes. A Foreign Trade Zone allows companies to import and export goods without paying U.S. tariffs.
Companies can bring in products or materials from outside the country tax-free.
They can assemble, store, process and test those products in the foreign trade zone and then export them out of the country, duty-free. Only if and when finished goods are sold in the United States, do U.S. duties apply. You pay no customs duties or government excise taxes until the final product enters the U.S. market, at which point duty is paid on either the product itself or its component parts, whichever is lower. Accrue additional savings through the ad valorem inventory tax exemption on foreign status merchandise and goods destined to be exported. The combination of inventory and duty flexibility makes the FTZ particularly attractive for companies involved with maquiladora or twin plant operations.