A majlis ordered from Türkiye enters the USA as an imported furniture shipment. US Customs and Border Protection clears it against a commercial invoice, and any duty depends on the tariff classification and country of origin in force that day. Sofhu ships free worldwide; ask before ordering how duties are handled on your quote, because US tariff rules have changed several times since 2025.
- Made in
- Türkiye, by Sofhu as the manufacturer
- Shipping
- Free worldwide, including all US states
- Customs authority
- US Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
- Where to check duty
- Harmonized Tariff Schedule search at hts.usitc.gov
- Low-value exemption
- Suspended for all countries since 29 August 2025
- Duties and taxes
- May apply; ask how they are handled on your quote
- Local stores
- None. Each set is built to order and delivered
On this page
If you want to import furniture from Turkey to the USA, a majlis is one of the easier pieces to bring in. It is foam and fabric, and it packs small. What it does need is a clean customs entry. This guide follows one order from a workshop in Türkiye to a living room in the States and marks the points where you, the buyer, should ask a question before paying.
Sofhu is the manufacturer and ships free worldwide. Shipping and customs are two different things, though, and the second is governed by US law, not by the seller. Every statement about US rules below is dated October 2026 and tied to an official source you can check yourself.
Sofhu makes two products, the raised and fully upholstered Arabic majlis and the low Arabic floor sofa made of loose floor cushions. The customs steps are the same for both.
How your order travels
A made-to-measure majlis starts with your wall measurements. Once the layout and fabric are agreed, the pieces are cut and sewn, inspected, and vacuum-packed. Sofhu states that its sets are sent in sealed vacuum packaging to cut shipping volume, which is how a full room of seating becomes a small number of manageable parcels.
From there the shipment goes through four hands:
- Export from Türkiye. The workshop prepares the commercial invoice and packing list.
- International carriage. Sofhu uses established cargo companies and does not publish which one carries a given order.
- US customs entry. Someone files the entry with CBP. This is the step this guide is mostly about.
- Final delivery. The carrier brings the parcels to your address.
Customs entry in plain words
Every commercial shipment that arrives in the United States has to be declared to US Customs and Border Protection. The declaration says what the goods are, what they are worth, where they were made and who is importing them. CBP uses it to decide whether duty is owed and whether any other agency needs to look at the goods.
Two terms are worth knowing:
- Informal entry is the simpler route for lower-value shipments. At the time of writing CBP accepts informal entries for most goods valued up to 2,500 US dollars.
- Formal entry applies above that value and to certain categories. CBP says it can require extensive paperwork and a customs bond, and recommends considering a licensed customs broker.
A full-room majlis set can fall on either side of that line depending on its size and fabric, so do not assume. Ask Sofhu which entry type your order is expected to use and who files it.
One change catches buyers out. For years, low-value parcels entered the USA duty-free under the de minimis exemption. That exemption was suspended for goods from all countries on 29 August 2025, and in June 2026 CBP published rules making the suspension indefinite. In practice, there is no longer a value below which an imported purchase is automatically free of duty.
Furniture import duty in the USA: where to check the current rate
No rate is quoted on this page, on purpose. US tariff treatment of furniture has moved more than once since 2025, and a number that was right in spring can be wrong by autumn. Three things together decide what is owed:
| What decides it | Where to check |
|---|---|
| Tariff classification of the goods | Harmonized Tariff Schedule search, hts.usitc.gov |
| Country of origin (here, Türkiye) | Stated on the commercial invoice |
| Extra tariff measures in force | Chapter 99 of the HTS and CBP notices |
Furniture and cushions sit in Chapter 94 of the tariff schedule. Within that chapter, the correct line depends on what the item is made of and how it is built. A floor-level set of foam cushions is not the same article as a sofa on a wooden frame.
That distinction matters more since October 2025, when a presidential proclamation under Section 232 added tariffs on certain wood products, including upholstered wooden furniture. Whether a particular Sofhu set falls inside that measure depends on its construction and on how CBP classifies it. Floor cushions with no frame and a carved-wood Turkish majlis may be treated differently. Neither Sofhu nor this guide can rule on that. CBP can, and so can a licensed broker.
What you can do as a buyer:
- Ask Sofhu for the tariff code it declares for your set.
- Look that code up yourself on the HTS search, including the Chapter 99 notes attached to it.
- Ask plainly how duties are handled on your quote and get the answer in writing. Sofhu confirms free shipping. Its site does not say how import duties are treated, so this is a question to settle before you order, not after the parcels land.
Paperwork you may be asked for
For a household order, most of the paperwork is produced by the seller and the carrier. You may still be contacted, so keep these within reach:
- Your order confirmation, showing the price paid and what was bought.
- The commercial invoice issued by Sofhu. Check that the description matches what you ordered: number of pieces, materials, value.
- Identification for the importer. On a formal entry CBP needs an importer number, which for an individual is usually a Social Security number given directly to the broker or carrier. Give it only through the broker’s or carrier’s own secure channel, never in a chat message.
- A phone number and email that you answer. Shipments stall most often because nobody replied to the broker.
If the carrier or a broker sends you a form or a request for payment, confirm it against your tracking reference and the carrier’s official website before acting on it. Fake customs-fee messages are common.
Delivery day at a US home
The parcels are compact because the foam is compressed. A floor sofa arrives as bagged seat cushions, backrests, armrests and loose pillows, plus any rug or ottoman in the set. Nothing is the size of a three-seater sofa, so apartment lifts, basement stairs and tight landings are not the obstacle they are with Western furniture.
Before the delivery, clear the wall where the seating will sit. Arabic floor sofas are not freestanding. They lean against the wall behind them, so the room needs to be ready for that. Open the vacuum bags by hand, without sharp tools, and let the foam rise. The full sequence is in the guide to how a majlis is packed and delivered.
Count the parcels against the packing list while the driver is still there, and photograph any bag that arrives torn or crushed.
State pages and where to go next
This page covers the import questions that are the same from Maine to California. For anything local, Sofhu already has pages for individual states, among them Michigan, New York, California, Illinois and Virginia, plus a page on Yemeni majlis sets for the USA.
If you are still choosing, start with how to buy a majlis online and what a custom majlis involves. The Arabic furniture store page explains how ordering works when there is no shop to walk into. People searching for an Arabic sofa in the USA or a jalsah majlis in the USA usually ask the same thing in the end: will it fit, and what will it cost landed. The first is answered by a tape measure. Follow the guide to measuring a room for a majlis, then walk through ordering a custom majlis from abroad.
The second is answered by a quote. Send your wall measurements through the quote form or on WhatsApp, and ask the duty question in the same message.
