HS Code for USB Flash Drives

USB flash drives, also called thumb drives, memory sticks or USB sticks, usually point toward subheading 8523.51 of the HTSUS, which covers solid-state non-volatile storage devices. The same subheading generally applies whether the drive is blank or already carries data or software, and it also takes in SD and microSD memory cards. The general rate of duty on this line is Free. The main point worth checking is whether the item is really a flash drive or a storage unit of a computer, such as a solid-state drive, which points toward heading 8471 instead.

USB flash drives are provided for in heading 8523 of the HTSUS, which covers discs, tapes, solid-state non-volatile storage devices, smart cards and other media for recording sound or other phenomena. Within that heading the semiconductor media sit under 8523.5, and a flash drive, being a storage device built on flash memory with a connecting socket, usually points toward subheading 8523.51. Note 6(a) to chapter 85 describes these devices as storage that keeps data without a power supply and connects through a socket such as a USB plug, which matches a typical thumb drive closely.

Recording does not usually change the subheading for a flash drive. A blank USB stick and one preloaded with software, music, video or documents both tend to point toward 8523.51, unlike optical discs, where the blank and recorded forms split. Memory cards such as SD and microSD cards follow the same logic and generally sit beside flash drives under 8523.51. Branded or promotional drives in novelty housings (rubber figures, card shapes, keychains) usually stay with the storage function rather than moving to the heading for the housing material.

The nearest neighbors within 8523.5 are smart cards at 8523.52, which carry an embedded integrated circuit (payment, SIM-style and access cards), and the residual line at 8523.59 for other semiconductor media. A flash drive is not a smart card, so the distinction is mostly useful when a shipment mixes storage devices with chip cards.

The boundary that matters more is with heading 8471. Solid-state drives (SSDs) are built as storage units of a computer, with a controller and an interface such as SATA, NVMe or a drive enclosure, and they point toward the storage-unit lines at 8471.70 instead. An internal SSD meant to be mounted inside a machine points toward 8471.70.60, while an enclosed external storage unit can point toward 8471.70.90. Portable SSDs marketed as large 'USB drives' are worth a closer look against both headings.

A practical sequence is to confirm whether the item is a plug-in flash storage device or a computer storage unit, then check whether it is a smart card or another semiconductor medium. Loose memory chips that are not built into a finished storage device are a separate case again and point toward the integrated circuit provisions of heading 8542.

General duty rates across the flash-drive and neighboring lines shown are Free: the solid-state storage line at 8523.51, the smart-card lines at 8523.52, the residual semiconductor-media line at 8523.59, and the SSD and other storage-unit lines at 8471.70.60 and 8471.70.90. Because the base rate is Free across these lines, identifying the right subheading is mainly about arriving at a better classification suggestion rather than a change in the estimated base duty. Additional duties such as Section 301 or IEEPA-based tariffs may apply to electronics depending on country of origin, so the total estimate can differ from the base rate. These figures are estimates for general planning purposes only.