HS code vs HTS code vs Schedule B — the difference

Here is the short answer. An HS code is the six-digit international root that every country recognises. An HTS code is a US import number — ten digits, set by the US International Trade Commission, and it is the one that determines the duty you pay CBP. A Schedule B number is a separate ten-digit US export code, run by the Census Bureau, used to report what leaves the country rather than to charge anything. All three usually share the same first six digits for a given product, which is exactly why people mix them up.

That confusion is not harmless. File the wrong one and an export shipment gets flagged, a broker asks for a correction, or a first-time importer pays the wrong duty for months without noticing. This guide untangles all three, shows a full comparison table, and gives you a simple rule for knowing which code belongs on which form.

What is an HS code?

The Harmonized System is a product-naming standard maintained by the World Customs Organization (WCO) in Brussels. Around 200 countries and customs territories use it, covering roughly 98% of goods moving in world trade. It groups products into 21 sections and 99 chapters, then narrows down to headings and subheadings using a shared logic: what a thing is made of, how it's made, and what it does.

The HS code itself is six digits — for example, 6109.10 for cotton T-shirts, knitted. The first two digits are the chapter (61 = knitted apparel), the next two are the heading (6109 = T-shirts and singlets), and the last two are the international subheading (10 = of cotton). Every WCO member country recognises those six digits for that product, even though each country then builds its own longer national code on top.

What is an HTS code, and why does it carry a duty rate?

The Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) is the United States' own extension of the HS, published and maintained by the US International Trade Commission (USITC). It takes the shared six-digit HS root and adds four more digits: a two-digit US subheading and a two-digit statistical suffix, for ten digits in total. This is the number CBP actually assesses duty against when a shipment clears US customs.

So a men's cotton T-shirt that sits at 6109.10 internationally becomes something like 6109.10.0060 on the US schedule — the same first six digits, but two more layers of US-specific detail. Change the fibre content, the knit, or who wears it, and you can land on a different ten-digit line with a different rate, even though the first six digits look identical to a competitor's product.

A Seattle furniture importer we've seen make this mistake had been quoting customers off the six-digit HS heading for wooden dining chairs from a Vietnam supplier catalogue. The six digits were correct, but two ten-digit US lines under that heading carried different statistical treatment. The importer had filed against the wrong one for most of a year, and their broker caught it during an audit and had to refile.

What is a Schedule B number, and how is it different from HTS?

Schedule B is the United States' export classification system, administered not by USITC or CBP but by the US Census Bureau's Foreign Trade Division. Like the HTS, a Schedule B number is ten digits and built on the same six-digit HS root. But it exists for a completely different purpose: tracking what the US ships out, for trade statistics, not for charging anyone anything.

There is no duty attached to a Schedule B number, because exports out of the US generally aren't taxed the way imports are. Instead, the number feeds the Electronic Export Information (EEI) filing that exporters submit through the Automated Export System (AES) for shipments above the reporting threshold, or when a licence is required. Get the wrong Schedule B number on that filing and the shipment can be delayed at the port while the discrepancy gets sorted out.

HS vs HTS vs Schedule B: the comparison table

Do HS, HTS and Schedule B always share the same first six digits?

Almost always, but not with total certainty. Both the HTS and Schedule B are meant to nest cleanly under the international six-digit HS structure, and for the overwhelming majority of products they do. Where it gets messy is past digit six: the US import schedule and the US export schedule were built by two different agencies, for two different reasons, and their seven-through-ten-digit statistical breakouts don't always mirror each other line for line.

That means a valid ten-digit HTS number sometimes has no exact Schedule B equivalent, and vice versa — a handful of product categories split differently on each side. The safe habit is to never assume the last four digits carry across. Confirm the Schedule B number separately when you're exporting, even if you already know the HTS line from importing the same product.

Can you use an HTS code on an export filing instead of Schedule B?

Sometimes, and this is where the confusion causes the most practical trouble. US export regulations do allow filers to use a valid HTS number on the Electronic Export Information in place of a Schedule B number in many cases, because the systems are cross-referenced. But it isn't universal. Certain HTS lines have no direct Schedule B correspondence, so the AES filing system will reject the number outright, and you'll need to look up the correct Schedule B classification instead.

A five-person DTC brand shipping accessories from a Los Angeles warehouse hit this exact wall: a new hire copied the HTS number straight off a commercial invoice for a new SKU, and the AES filing bounced. The fix took ten minutes once they found the correct Schedule B line, but it held a container at the port over a weekend.

Customs brokers describe the HS/HTS/Schedule B mix-up as one of the most common — and most avoidable — filing errors they see. It's rarely a knowledge gap about tariffs; it's simply picking up the wrong ten-digit code for the direction the goods are actually moving.

Which one do you actually need?

1. Bringing goods INTO the United States and paying duty → the 10-digit HTS code, from the USITC schedule.
2. Sending goods OUT of the United States and filing export data → the 10-digit Schedule B number, from the Census Bureau.
3. Talking to an overseas supplier, reading a foreign country's tariff schedule, or comparing products internationally → the 6-digit HS root.

Where do MFN rates, Section 301 and other add-on duties fit in?

None of that lives in the HS root or in Schedule B — it all attaches to the ten-digit HTS line. The general (Most Favoured Nation) rate is the baseline duty published against your HTS number. Chapter 99 of the HTS then carries additional measures tied to country of origin — Section 301 tariffs on many Chinese-origin goods, Section 232 on steel and aluminium content, and others that shift with policy, sometimes with only weeks of notice. Treat any specific percentage you read anywhere, including this article, as a starting point to verify, not a number to file against blind.

What is an HTS number used for besides paying duty?

Beyond setting the duty rate, the HTS number drives most of the downstream decisions in an import shipment. It determines whether a product needs a partner-agency review — FDA for food and cosmetics, USDA for certain agricultural goods, CPSC for consumer products — and it's the field CBP's automated risk-targeting systems key off when deciding what to examine. Trade compliance teams also use the HTS number to track spend by product line, since it's the one consistent identifier that follows a product from purchase order to landed-cost report.

Frequently asked questions

None of this is legal, customs or tax advice — classification disputes, origin questions and penalty exposure are fact-specific, and a licensed customs broker or CBP binding ruling is the right call whenever real money is on the line. What this article gives you is the map: which code belongs on which form, and where to go to check the number that actually matters for your shipment.