HS 9403 Canadian Furniture Scope Map: 9403.30 Office, 9403.50 Bedroom, 9403.60 Wood Living and Dining, and a 500k Worked Stack Across the Section 338 Cliff

HS Chapter 94 furniture is one of the most heavily represented consumer-goods categories in the Annex II scope of Section 338 Canada. The three subheadings that matter for the typical Ontario or Quebec furniture importer are 9403.30 (office), 9403.50 (bedroom), and 9403.60 (other wood living and dining). All three are covered. USMCA preferential treatment does not waive the 50 percent Section 338 layer. Chapter 99 heading 9903.03.14 is the operative rate line for the wood category under U.S. Note 51 to Chapter 99 Subchapter III.

This piece maps each subheading, walks the classification traps that will bite at line-item filing, and closes with a 500k CIF Ontario container worked stack pre-cliff (August 18) and post-cliff (August 19).

HS 9403.30 wooden office furniture

Heading 9403.30 covers wooden furniture of a kind used in offices. That is the descriptive text. In practice it covers desks, wooden office chairs (including chairs with wooden frames and upholstered seats), filing cabinets, credenzas, wooden conference tables, wooden storage units designed for office use, and reception furniture.

It does not cover kitchen furniture (that is 9403.40), bedroom furniture (9403.50), or other wooden furniture (9403.60). The 10-digit level differentiates by construction type and value bracket, and it matters for line 30 Chapter 99 heading assignment because U.S. Note 51 Annex II references the 8-digit level in its scope but the broker still needs the 10-digit for accurate line 30 filing under 19 CFR 141.61.

Trap: office-style chairs with metal frames and wooden components can drift toward 9401.30 (swivel seats with variable-height adjustment) or 9401.61 (upholstered seats with wooden frames). Those headings are outside 9403.30 and need their own scope check against Annex II before you apply 9903.03.14.

HS 9403.50 wooden bedroom furniture

Heading 9403.50 covers wooden furniture of a kind used in bedrooms. Bed frames, headboards and footboards, dressers, chests of drawers, nightstands, wardrobes, and vanities. Mattresses are separately classified in Chapter 94 heading 9404 and are not inside 9403.50 scope, but they carry their own coverage question against the Annex II mattress-adjacent line items (worth a separate classification memo).

Trap: children's furniture (cribs, changing tables) that is wooden and clearly bedroom-use falls in 9403.50. Toy furniture in Chapter 95 (heading 9503) is a separate scope question and outside Annex II.

HS 9403.60 other wooden furniture (living and dining)

Heading 9403.60 is the residual wooden-furniture subheading. Living-room and dining-room wooden furniture (dining tables, dining chairs with wooden frames, sideboards, buffets, hutches, coffee tables, end tables, entertainment units, bookshelves) sits here.

Trap: upholstered wooden-frame sofas and armchairs drift to 9401.61 or 9401.71, not 9403.60. 9403.60 is for the wooden pieces without upholstery being the primary component. If the sofa has a wooden frame but the upholstery is the dominant construction, it is a 9401 seat, not a 9403 piece of furniture. Get the classification memo tight before you file, because a mis-classification from 9403.60 to 9401.61 or vice versa is a PSC-fixable error, but only if you catch it inside the 314-day 1520(d) window.

USMCA treatment and the Section 338 layer

For all three subheadings, USMCA preferential treatment produces a 0 percent MFN rate when the goods qualify as originating under Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 of USMCA. Furniture is often USMCA-qualifying when the wooden components originate from Canadian softwood and the assembly is Canadian.

The three July 20 2026 Proclamations state that USMCA preferential treatment does not extend to Section 338 duties. The 50 percent Section 338 rate stacks on top of the 0 percent MFN. A qualifying USMCA claim provides zero rate relief on the covered furniture subheadings post-August 19. USMCA cert paperwork on the entry is still required to preserve the 0 percent MFN base rate (otherwise you would pay MFN 0 percent under USMCA plus Section 338 50 percent, versus the alternative of MFN Column 1 rates around 0 to 2.7 percent depending on the specific 10-digit line, plus Section 338 50 percent). File the cert.

Chapter 99 heading assignment

Under U.S. Note 51 to Chapter 99 Subchapter III, the wood category of Annex II maps to Chapter 99 heading 9903.03.14. All three furniture subheadings (9403.30, 9403.50, 9403.60) map to 9903.03.14 as the line 30 Chapter 99 entry.

CBP Form 7501 line 30 needs the underlying 8-digit HTSUS as one line item plus 9903.03.14 as a second line item. This is line-item transparency required for PSC recovery and reconciliation under 19 USC 1520 and 1313(j). Blending the rates into a single line is a filing error that will surface at audit under 19 USC 1509(a).

Worked stack: 500k CIF Ontario furniture container

The comparison shipment for the delta math.

Setup. 500,000 CIF Ontario container, mixed load of wooden office furniture (9403.30), bedroom sets (9403.50), and dining furniture (9403.60). Ocean routing Vancouver to Long Beach (worst case for HMF exposure vs land border routing). USMCA-qualifying with a valid Certificate of Origin.

Pre-cliff entry filed August 18 2026.

• MFN rate: 0 percent under USMCA on all three subheadings.
• MPF: 0.3464 percent of 500,000 equals 1,732, capped at 634.62 per entry.
• HMF: 0.125 percent of 500,000 equals 625 on ocean shipments.
• Total federal duty and fees: 634.62 + 625 = about 1,260.

Post-cliff entry filed August 19 2026 or later.

• MFN rate: still 0 percent under USMCA on all three subheadings.
• Section 338 layer under 9903.03.14: 50 percent of 500,000 equals 250,000.
• MPF: 634.62 (capped).
• HMF: 625.
• Total federal duty and fees: 250,000 + 634.62 + 625 = about 251,260.

Delta: about 250,000 in duty on one 500k CIF Ontario furniture container across the effective-date cliff. That is the number the CFO needs to see. USMCA cert on the entry does nothing to soften the layer. The layer is the entire delta.

Land-border routing note

Truck or rail via a Great Lakes or Northeast land border reduces HMF to zero (HMF applies only to ocean shipments unloading at a U.S. port under 19 USC 4462). It does not change MFN or Section 338. The land-border total post-cliff is about 250,635 versus ocean 251,260. On a 500k CIF shipment, the routing decision saves about 625, which is real but small versus the 250,000 Section 338 layer.

FTZ Privileged Foreign election timing

For a shipment sitting at a Great Lakes or west coast FTZ on August 18 that has not yet been admitted, Privileged Foreign election on Form 214 under 19 CFR 146.41(e) locks the admission-date rate schedule. If admitted August 18 under PF election, the rate schedule is pre-cliff MFN 0 percent USMCA. Consumption entry withdrawal on August 25 (or any date post-cliff) would still be assessed at the August 18 admission-date rate schedule, which is pre-cliff.

If the FTZ operator refuses PF admission on August 18 (some Great Lakes operators have signaled hesitancy pending CBP CSMS), the shipment either goes to consumption entry post-cliff (paying the full 250,000 Section 338 layer) or waits for a 19 CFR 146.3 port director determination.

Related

For the office-furniture-only 500k worked stack including the FTZ Privileged Foreign timing details specific to 9403.30, see HS 9403.30 Canadian Wooden Office Furniture: Section 338 Worked Duty Stack Pre and Post August 19 2026.

Primary sources

• HTSUS (2026 revision), Chapter 94 headings 9403.30, 9403.50, 9403.60.
• U.S. Note 51 to Subchapter III of Chapter 99, HTSUS, wood category mapping to 9903.03.14.
• Presidential Proclamations of July 20, 2026 (Annex II wooden furniture scope).
• USMCA (United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement) Chapters 4 and 5 (rules of origin).
• 19 CFR 141.61, line-item filing on CBP Form 7501.
• 19 USC 1520(d), 314-day PSC window.
• 19 USC 1509(a), 5-year records audit window.
• 19 CFR 146.41(e), FTZ Privileged Foreign election.
• 19 USC 4462, HMF authority (ocean shipments only).