APHIS User Fees

APHIS charges a user fee to recover the costs of providing the following goods and services:

• Agricultural Quarantine and Inspection (AQI) services
• Export certification of plants and plant products
• Veterinary services for imports and exports of live animals and products
• Veterinary diagnostic goods and services

APHIS may charge an additional fee to cover the costs of overtime when certain user fee-funded services are provided outside the normal working hours of the Federal employee providing the service. These services are called:

• Reimbursable overtime services

Follow any of the links above for:

• A description of the goods and/or services provided
• The applicable statutory authority for APHIS to collect and retain the fees
• Current rates
• How APHIS determined the amount of the fees
• Scheduled rate changes
• Other information specific to that category of fees

Follow the links below to obtain general information about APHIS user fees:

• What is a user fee?
• For what goods and services does APHIS charge a user fee?
• Why does APHIS charge user fees for some activities and not others?
• What happens to the money that APHIS collects through user fees?
• How does APHIS determine the amount of its fees?
• How reliable are the projections upon which the fees are based?
• What happens when variable factors fluctuate?
• How often will user fees be adjusted?
• How often are the fees reviewed?
• What is the process for changing the fees?

APHIS Policy on User Fees

APHIS' policy on user fees is to set user fees that are fair and that provide for full cost recovery. APHIS' customers have a right to transparent and timely information that can help them anticipate rate changes and assist them with their own strategic planning processes. User fee rates must be justified, and user fee-funded activities must be regularly reviewed for efficiencies. User fees also must be commensurate with costs and must include sufficient reserve in order to prevent any service interruptions caused by unanticipated funding shortfalls. APHIS is committed to constantly reviewing user-funded activities to support changing customer needs and improve program efficiency.