Avoid Costly Penalties: Own Your Records and Audit Your Broker

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Import compliance hinges on strong customs recordkeeping. As the importer, you—not your broker—are responsible for maintaining complete, accessible entry documents. Even excellent brokers can miss files, and when the government asks for records, penalties can stack up per missing document. In this video, we explain why periodic broker audits and internal checks are essential, how to demonstrate reasonable care, and what it takes to respond within the typical 30-day window without a frantic document hunt.We outline practical steps to strengthen trade compliance: start with sample testing (e. g., 5–15 entries per month) if you can’t review 100%, request the broker’s documents and compare them to your own files, and keep a simple log—an Excel spreadsheet works—mapping each entry number to where its documents are stored. This approach reduces the risk of per-document penalties and prevents the last-minute scramble that often follows a records request.At Vigilant Global Trade Services, we offer tools that leverage AI to validate whether required records exist and are stored in the right place, enabling systematic 100% checks or efficient sampling. If you rely on a broker to store records, verify; if you keep them in-house, test your own process. To learn how Vigilant can help you demonstrate reasonable care and stay audit-ready, visit our website or contact us to learn more.