Form 1363 – Export Exemption Certificate for Air Cargo Tax

Editorial Standards

How we research, review, and update this guide

Every Accountably guide is researched against primary IRS sources, reviewed by a U.S. CPA, and refreshed as guidance evolves. Read our Editorial Guidelines to see how we source, fact-check, and update our content.

A shipper realizes it has been paying the air-cargo excise on export legs for a year and wants to know whether any of it is recoverable. The answer is usually yes for legs still inside the suspension window with proof on file, but only when the documentation lines up. Form 1363 is the Export Exemption Certificate the shipper hands the air carrier so the carrier can suspend the 6.25% IRC section 4271 excise tax on the domestic air-freight leg of an export movement.

The suspension runs 6 months from shipment, and the filer has to furnish proof of exportation, such as an export bill of lading, within that window, or the carrier collects the tax under section 4291. The exemption rests on 26 U.S.C. section 4272(b)(2) and the regulations in 26 CFR 49.4271-1. Below I cover how the certificate works as a tax-suspension instrument, what proof the carrier needs, when a blanket certificate beats an individual one, and the recordkeeping that survives a look-back.

Key Takeaways

• IRS Form 1363, Export Exemption Certificates, lets the carrier treat your air cargo charges as exempt when the property is exported, which suspends the 6.25% tax liability while you provide proof of export.
• You give the completed form to the carrier at or before payment, for a single shipment or, with IRS permission, as a blanket certificate for many shipments. Keep copies with your shipping papers.
• The exemption rests on 26 U.S.C. §4272(b)(2) and the regulations in 26 CFR §49.4271‑1, which outline eligibility, the 6‑month suspension window, and proof of export expectations.
• The current public form revision is Rev. August 2021 and displays OMB control number 1545‑0685. Always verify that you are using the latest version listed on irs.gov.
• If proof of export is not furnished to the carrier within 6 months from the shipment date, the carrier must collect the tax, though refunds can be pursued later when evidence arrives.

Who this guide helps

• Shippers and exporters who pay air cargo bills and want to prevent unexpected tax charges.
• Freight forwarders and logistics teams that issue house bills and coordinate carrier paperwork.
• Accounting and tax pros who reconcile transportation invoices and support audits for export clients.

I will speak directly to you, keep jargon to a minimum, and flag the few places where the rules are strict. Where it helps, I will share process tips we use when we set up documentation flows for clients that handle recurring exports.

What Form 1363 actually does

Form 1363 is the shipper’s certificate that an air cargo movement is part of an export, so the amount paid for that transportation is not subject to the 6.25% excise tax in section 4271. You hand it to the carrier with shipment specifics and, when applicable, the IRS approval to use a blanket certificate. The form temporarily suspends tax liability for 6 months starting on the date the goods leave the point of origin, while you furnish proof of export to the carrier. If you miss that window, the carrier must collect the tax, then a credit or refund can be sought after proof is provided.

Legal basis you can cite with confidence

• The statute defines taxable transportation and carves out an exception for transportation of property in the course of exportation, by continuous movement, and in due course exported. This lives in 26 U.S.C. §4272(b)(2).
• The excise tax rate, rules for when the tax applies, and the export exemption framework appear in 26 CFR §49.4271‑1, which also ties to the 6‑month suspension and record expectations.
• IRS guidance for blanket exemption permission and the review cadence sits in the Internal Revenue Manual, which examiners use.

The quick checklist before you ship

• Confirm the move is an export by continuous movement, with a foreign destination or a U.S. possession.
• Complete Form 1363, Rev. August 2021, and make sure OMB 1545‑0685 appears on the face of the form.
• Attach or prepare to supply proof of export, for example a copy of the export bill of lading, a memo from a vessel captain or customs official, or a shipper’s export declaration.
• Hand the original Form 1363 to the carrier at or before payment, keep a copy with your shipping papers, and track the 6‑month deadline to deliver export evidence.
• For frequent exporters, consider a blanket certificate, but only after you obtain IRS permission, then file one per carrier.

Compliance note, current through December 31, 2025, the IRS “About Form 1363” page was last reviewed June 21, 2025, and links to the Rev. August 2021 PDF. Always confirm the latest version on irs.gov before you rely on this guide.

Step by step, how to complete and file Form 1363

Fill out the header and identities

• Shipper or person on whom the tax is imposed, legal name and taxpayer identification number.
• Address, including city, state or province, country, and postal code.
• Carrier’s legal name and address, and for blanket use, the date of the IRS permission letter.

Describe the shipment, clearly and specifically

• Property shipped, commodity, and weight.
• Date shipped from the point of origin, point of origin, and port of exportation.
• Transportation charges, date paid, amount paid. Keep it precise so the certificate ties to the invoice.

Make the certification and sign

You certify, under penalties of perjury, that the export intent was documented before delivery to the carrier, and that you will pay the tax if the property is not exported. Sign, print your title, and date. The carrier relies on your signature, so make sure the person who signs can stand behind the statement.

Table, the fields you must get right

Field on Form 1363	What to enter	Tips that speed review
Name, TIN, address	Your legal entity details	Match your bill of lading and invoice names
Carrier name, address	The air carrier that will keep the original	One blanket certificate per carrier when approved
Property, commodity, weight	Clear, concise description	Avoid vague labels like “goods,” use SKU or commodity name
Dates and locations	Ship date from origin, origin, port of export	Use the same dates you will use for export evidence
Transportation charges	Date paid, amount paid	Tie to the specific freight bill number in your files
Certification block	Signature, title, date	Ensure signatory authority and legible contact info

Source: Rev. August 2021 Form 1363, see form face and instructions.

Proof of export, what counts and how to show it

The IRS lists acceptable evidence examples, such as a copy of the export bill of lading, a memorandum from a vessel captain, customs official, or foreign consignee, and a shipper’s export declaration. If you provide a statement instead of the documents, the statement must certify export, identify what evidence exists, specify the foreign destination or U.S. possession, and give the address where the evidence is available for inspection. Hand this to the carrier within 6 months from shipment to keep the suspension intact.

Practical tip, we keep a shared tracker that pairs each freight bill with its Form 1363 copy and its proof of export. When the 150‑day mark hits, we chase any missing documents so nothing slips past the 6‑month window.

Single shipment vs blanket certificate

• Single shipment, execute Form 1363 for each payment otherwise subject to tax, give the original to the carrier, and keep a copy with your shipping papers. Retain for at least three years after the last day of the month of shipment.
• Blanket certificate, if you expect many export payments over an indefinite period and it is not practical to execute a separate form each time, request permission in writing, then file one certificate per carrier. The IRS Internal Revenue Manual explains how requests are reviewed and when they are rechecked.

What your blanket request letter should cover

• Why separate forms for each payment are impractical for you.
• Volume and frequency of export shipments, and the carriers you use.
• Your internal controls for keeping shipping and payment records and for supplying proof of export within 6 months.
• Contact details for the person responsible for maintaining the file. Once granted, IRS permission to use the blanket exemption remains in effect until withdrawn.

Where to file and how long to keep records

File the original Form 1363 with the air carrier, either at or before payment, and keep a copy with your shipping papers. For single shipments, you and the carrier keep your records for at least three years after the end of the month in which the shipment left the origin. For blanket certificates, keep the certificate for at least three years after the month of the final shipment covered (the clock runs from the last covered shipment, not from the form-filing date or the date IRS granted permission), and maintain related shipping and payment documents for the three‑year window tied to each shipment.

Timelines and the 6‑month suspension rule

The carrier’s obligation to collect the excise tax is suspended for 6 months, starting on the date the property is shipped from the point of origin. If the carrier does not receive evidence of exportation within that period, it must collect the tax from the payer of the transportation charge. If you later present proof, credit or refund can be made under section 6415. That is why a dated, shipment‑level evidence log is essential.

A simple timeline you can copy

• Day 0, ship date from origin, Form 1363 to carrier, evidence plan noted.
• By Day 150, soft check, confirm export docs are on file or confirm statement with location and contact.
• By Day 180, hard stop, carrier must have evidence or it will collect the tax, which you might only recover later by credit or refund.

The rate, what is taxable, and common carve‑outs

The regulations state the section 4271 tax is 6.25% on amounts paid for taxable transportation of property by air (distinct from the 7.5% §4261 passenger air-transportation tax, which is a separate levy), and they outline when the tax applies. The §4271 tax only reaches transportation that begins and ends in the United States, so purely international air-freight legs are outside the tax base entirely and do not need a Form 1363. The rules exclude movements on aircraft with maximum certificated takeoff weight of 6,000 pounds or less, unless the aircraft operates on an established line or is a jet, and they anchor the export exemption that Form 1363 invokes. Always check your facts against the movement, the aircraft used, and the documentation you will keep.

Digital and process tips that simplify audits

• Use the Rev. August 2021 PDF from irs.gov so you capture the exact fields, including the certification text and the OMB control number 1545‑0685 on the face of the form.
• Store the Form 1363 copy with the export evidence in a single folder named with the freight bill, origin date, and destination. That makes the carrier’s request easy to fulfill inside the 6‑month window.
• For blanket use, maintain one active certificate per carrier and attach the IRS permission letter. The IRM describes the permission and review process, which your examiner will know.
• Add a quarterly self‑check. Sample ten shipments, confirm the form, the evidence, the dates, and the math on the transportation charge.

Frequent mistakes that trigger tax collection

• Vague commodity descriptions that do not match the bill of lading.
• Late evidence of export, beyond 6 months from origin date.
• Filing a single blanket certificate but using it for multiple carriers without separate originals.
• Missing signatures or a signer who is not authorized.
• Using an outdated third‑party template that does not include the current certification text or OMB number. The IRS site links to the current PDF, last reviewed June 21, 2025.

Where this fits in your larger compliance workflow

If you manage exports every week, Form 1363 is one tile in a larger mosaic that includes booking, routing, Automated Export System filings, and invoice reconciliation. We usually assign ownership to one ops lead who works with accounting to reconcile freight bills and file evidence. For firms that support many shippers, a shared work queue, standardized filenames, and a clear 180‑day calendar protect you from last‑minute scrambles.

A brief word about Accountably, since this article lives on our site. We place trained offshore accountants and tax preparers inside CPA, EA, and accounting firms, ramped on your software and SOPs, and we prove the work before your name is on it, which often means building simple, consistent workflows for compliance documents like Form 1363, with clear ownership, review steps, and continuity plans. If your firm has the rules down but the process still feels messy, trained capacity and structure is often the fix, not another local hire you cannot find.

Reference links and what to verify each year

• IRS “About Form 1363” page, confirms that you file with the carrier to suspend liability and links to the current PDF. Check the page’s “Last Reviewed” date.
• Form 1363 PDF, Rev. August 2021, shows OMB control number 1545‑0685 and the exact certification text.
• Regulations for the tax and the export exemption, 26 CFR §49.4271‑1, include the 6.25% rate and core applicability.
• Statutory definition and export exception, 26 U.S.C. §4272, for when transportation is taxable and when exportation is excluded.
• The IRS Internal Revenue Manual section used by examiners for blanket certificates.

Common Mistakes We See Every Season

The same mistakes show up every quarter, and almost all of them trace back to treating Form 1363 like a tax return instead of a sworn certificate handed to the carrier.

Reusable Checklists

These checklists are copy-paste ready for your firm or in-house SOP. Each item maps to a specific instruction in IRS Form 1363, Rev. August 2021.

Keep 1363 Season From Stalling

The 1363 workflow does not have a single April spike, but the carry cost is real: every export leg that misses its 6-month proof window converts back into a 6.25% §4271 collection by the carrier (per IRS Form 1363, Rev. August 2021). Shippers and the teams supporting them often discover the leakage only when the carrier invoices the tax months after the fact, and by then the documentation trail is cold.

The stall is almost never the certificate itself. It is the proof-of-export hand-off, the per-carrier blanket discipline, and the recordkeeping clock that runs from the last covered shipment rather than from the date the form was filed.

• Stand up a shipment-by-shipment register that pairs each Form 1363 with its point-of-origin date and a calendared month-5 proof review.
• Treat the blanket-permission letter to Mail Stop 5701G as a one-time setup project, then run a per-carrier execution loop so each air carrier holds its own original blanket Form 1363.
• Lock the proof-of-export evidence menu upstream: export bill of lading, captain or customs or foreign consignee memo, shipper's export declaration, or a four-element statement of availability.
• Anchor the 3-year retention clock to the last day of the month of the final covered shipment, not to the filing date or the IRS approval date.
• When the 6-month window slips, open the §6415(a) refund file immediately, so the post-collection refund claim does not get lost in operations.

This is the kind of standing workflow our U.S. accounting and tax outsourcing team runs alongside client operations: per-shipment 1363 logs, calendared proof reviews, per-carrier blanket registers, and §6415(a) refund tracking, so air-freight excise stops quietly draining margin.

FAQs

Who signs Form 1363, and can a freight forwarder sign it?

The person on whom the tax is imposed signs, typically the shipper shown on the air waybill or the contractual shipper who pays the transportation charge. A forwarder can sign only if it is the contractual shipper on that transaction and can certify export intent and evidence. The form requires a signature under penalties of perjury.

Can I send Form 1363 electronically to the carrier?

The form itself is a PDF, and many carriers accept it electronically, provided integrity and timing are preserved. What matters for compliance is that the carrier receives the certificate with or before payment and that you keep your copy with the shipping papers. Confirm your carrier’s accepted methods.

How do blanket certificates work in practice?

Request permission in writing, explain why separate forms are impractical, and once approved, execute a blanket certificate per carrier. Keep the original with the carrier and a copy with your records, then retain for at least three years after the month of the last shipment covered. Once granted, IRS permission to use the blanket exemption remains in effect until withdrawn.

What counts as proof of export?

Acceptable examples include a copy of the export bill of lading, a memorandum from a vessel captain, customs official, or foreign consignee, and a shipper’s export declaration, or a statement that lists where the documents are available. Furnish these within 6 months of the shipment date from origin.

What if my goods were exported by multiple modes, not just air?

The exemption focuses on transportation of property by air, but the rules and the IRM recognize movements in the course of export by continuous movement even when more than one mode is involved. Anchor your evidence to the full export movement and keep the Form 1363 with the air segment’s charge.

Does the 6.25% rate ever change?

The regulation shows 6.25% for the transportation of property by air under section 4271. If Congress changes the law or the Treasury updates regulations, rates could change, so confirm against 26 CFR §49.4271‑1 at the time you ship.

How long should I keep my records?

Keep single‑shipment certificates and the related shipping and payment records for at least three years after the last day of the month in which the shipment left the origin. For blanket certificates, keep the certificate for at least three years after the month of the final shipment covered, and maintain shipping and payment records on the same three‑year schedule.