HS Code for Office Furniture: Classification Guide for Importers

If you are fitting out an office with desks, chairs, filing cabinets and shelving from Bangladesh, the hs code for office furniture is the line your customs entry, duty calculation and origin claim depend on. The Harmonized System is a standardized numerical method of classifying traded products, applied by more than 200 countries and economies worldwide, and its latest release is HS 2022.¹ Office furniture sits in Chapter 94, but "office furniture" is not a single code: the heading splits first between seats and other furniture, and then by material. Every code in this guide is indicative — verify the full national code before filing. The background to the system is in the harmonized system explainer, and the general method in how to classify your product.

Quick answer: the indicative hs code for office furniture

Heading 9403 covers other furniture and parts thereof.² Inside heading 9403, the six-digit lines split by material and kind of use: metal furniture of a kind used in offices sits at 9403.10, wooden furniture of a kind used in offices at 9403.30, and furniture of plastics at 9403.70.² Office chairs, however, are seats, not furniture under 9403: heading 9401 covers seats, and a swivel seat with variable height adjustment sits at 9401.31 for wood and 9401.39 for other materials.³

Verify the piece, not the label. A listing that calls a chair "office furniture" does not move it into heading 9403, and a desk sold for a home office is still tested as furniture of a kind used in offices. Treat every line above as indicative and confirm the full national code before filing.

How HS codes are structured (2-4-6 digits)

Each code is built in pairs: the first two digits give the chapter, the next two the heading, and the final two the six-digit subheading shared worldwide.⁴ Chapter 94 is furniture, heading 9403 is other furniture and parts thereof, and 9403.10 is metal furniture of a kind used in offices.² Beyond six digits, each country adds its own lines: eight digits in the European Union Combined Nomenclature, ten in TARIC, and ten in the United States and the United Kingdom.⁵

The current version is HS 2022, with 21 sections, 96 chapters, over 1,200 headings and over 5,000 subheadings.¹ National extensions never change the first six digits: the HS classification is uniform for all countries only through the first six digits.⁶

Factors that decide the code for office furniture

Seats first, furniture second. Heading 9401 covers seats, whether or not convertible into beds, and parts thereof, while heading 9403 covers other furniture.³ Ask whether the piece is something you sit on before you ask what it is made of: chairs and stools are seats under 9401, while desks, cabinets and shelves are furniture under 9403. A desk lamp is neither: lamps and lighting fittings sit in heading 9405.

Material decides the line inside 9403. Metal office furniture sits at 9403.10 and wooden office furniture at 9403.30, with other metal furniture at 9403.20 and furniture of plastics at 9403.70.² Furniture of bamboo, rattan, cane or similar materials has its own lines after plastics, and parts sit at 9403.90.² Record the principal material for every piece: a steel-frame desk with a wooden top is a composite piece whose line turns on which material gives it its essential character, so a borderline composite is a ruling candidate, not a guess.

"Of a kind used in offices" is a kind test, not a room test. A United States ruling on a wooden desk and file cabinet held that the desk and file cabinet are classified under heading 9403 as furniture, and that using them in a home office rather than a separate office building does not stop them being office furniture: the question is whether the piece is of the kind used in offices.⁷ The same kind test runs through the wooden lines: wooden furniture of a kind used in offices sits at 9403.30, while wooden furniture of a kind used in the kitchen sits at 9403.40, in the bedroom at 9403.50, and other wooden furniture at 9403.60.²

The chair test turns on swivel and height adjustment. Swivel seats with variable height adjustment sit at 9401.31 for wood and 9401.39 for other materials, which covers the standard gas-lift office chair.³ A chair that does not swivel or adjust falls to the other-seat lines, split by frame: upholstered seats with wooden frames at 9401.61 and other wooden-frame seats at 9401.69, upholstered seats with metal frames at 9401.71 and other metal-frame seats at 9401.79.³ Check both features before choosing: a swivel chair with a fixed height, or a height-adjustable chair that does not swivel, fails the combined test.

Specialist chairs leave Chapter 94's office lines. Dentists', barbers' or similar chairs, with rotating as well as reclining and elevating movements, sit in heading 9402, medical, surgical, dental or veterinary furniture, not in heading 9401.⁸ A salon or clinic chair ordered for a workplace is therefore not office seating for classification purposes.

A fit-out does not take one code. Desks, chairs, cabinets and shelving keep their own headings even when shipped together for one office: classify every piece separately.

National codes: US HTS, EU CN/TARIC, UK commodity code

United States: HTS, ten digits. The United States schedule keeps the same first six digits and adds statistical suffixes. Metal furniture of a kind used in offices carries its own suffix for filing cabinets, separate from other metal office furniture.⁸ Wooden furniture of a kind used in offices splits further, with bentwood furniture on its own line.⁹ Read the full ten-digit line for each piece.

European Union: CN at eight digits, TARIC for measures. The Combined Nomenclature constitutes the fundamental framework for declaring goods on import into or export from the European Union, and it is updated by annual regulation.¹⁰ The CN adds two digits to the six-digit HS code, and TARIC adds two more for the import measures that apply to the goods.⁵ Take the eight-digit CN code for an export declaration and the ten-digit TARIC code for an import declaration.

United Kingdom: commodity code. The United Kingdom builds its commodity code on the same first six digits, with its own extension after them.⁴ For metal furniture of a kind used in offices, the United Kingdom splits the line by height and type: desks not exceeding 80 cm in height sit at 9403 1051 00, cupboards with doors, shutters or flaps exceeding 80 cm at 9403 1091 00, and filing, card-index and other cabinets exceeding 80 cm at 9403 1093 00.¹¹ Take the full ten-digit code from the United Kingdom tariff for your piece.

How to confirm the code officially

1. Write a precise description: piece type, principal material, whether a chair swivels and adjusts in height, frame material and upholstery for seats, height and type for cabinets and desks, and the intended kind of use.

2. Start from the official tariff for the destination: the USITC Harmonized Tariff Schedule, TARIC or the United Kingdom Trade Tariff, and read the heading text and chapter notes.

3. Check published rulings for similar pieces. For the United States, the USITC advises traders to use the Customs Rulings Online Search Service (CROSS), because the correct classification of many items can be found there.¹²

4. For a borderline piece, such as a composite desk or a chair that only partly meets the swivel test, apply for a binding decision before you ship. In the European Union, a Binding Tariff Information decision needs a separate application for each type of goods.¹³ In the United Kingdom, a legally binding decision is generally valid for 3 years, through an Advance Tariff Ruling.¹⁴ In the United States, if the merchandise is not described in any ruling on CROSS, you may request a binding ruling from United States Customs and Border Protection.¹²

5. Give your broker the description and the confirmed code for each piece, and use the same codes throughout the entry.

Common classification mistakes

Filing the whole fit-out under 9403. Chairs are seats under heading 9401, not furniture under 9403.³ A shipment of desks and chairs needs both headings, piece by piece.

Filing every office chair as a swivel chair. The swivel lines require both swivel movement and variable height adjustment.³ A fixed visitor chair takes the frame lines 9401.61, 9401.69, 9401.71 or 9401.79.³

Filing a wooden office desk as other wooden furniture. Wooden furniture of a kind used in offices sits at 9403.30; the residual line 9403.60 is for other wooden furniture, not for office pieces.²

Filing a desk lamp with the desk. Lamps and lighting fittings sit in heading 9405, not in heading 9403, even when bought as part of an office set.

Copying a code from another country. The HS classification is uniform only through the first six digits, and the same eight-digit class can represent different products in different countries.⁶ A United Kingdom ten-digit code is not a United States or European Union code.

Filing parts as finished furniture. Desk frames, drawer units and chair mechanisms take the parts lines 9403.90 and 9401.91 or 9401.99, not the finished-piece lines.^{2 3}

Related duties and documents

This guide states no duty rates: the code decides which duty line customs applies, and a rate on a metal office line does not carry to a wooden or seat line. Read the rate beside your confirmed code for your origin and entry date, and check what proof of origin a preference claim requires.

Keep the piece description, principal material, confirmed codes, any binding decision and the origin evidence together in the shipment file, with desks, chairs, cabinets and shelving as separate invoice lines.

FAQs

What is the HS code for office furniture?

There is no single code for office furniture. Metal office furniture sits at 9403.10 and wooden office furniture at 9403.30, while office chairs are seats under heading 9401: swivel chairs with variable height adjustment sit at 9401.31 or 9401.39, and other chairs take the frame lines 9401.61, 9401.69, 9401.71 or 9401.79.^{2 3} All of these lines are indicative: confirm the full national code before filing.

Is the HS code the same in every country?

Only the first six digits are harmonised. Beyond six digits, each country adds its own lines: eight digits in the European Union Combined Nomenclature and ten in TARIC, and ten digits in the United States and the United Kingdom.^{5 6}

How do I confirm the correct code?

Describe each piece precisely, read the heading text and chapter notes in the destination tariff, and check published rulings, such as CROSS for the United States.¹² For a borderline piece, apply for a binding decision before shipping: a Binding Tariff Information decision in the European Union,¹³ an Advance Tariff Ruling in the United Kingdom,¹⁴ or a CBP binding ruling in the United States.¹²

What happens if I use the wrong code?

Duty, licensing and quota treatment are worked out from the code on the declaration, so a wrong code brings the wrong treatment. Taking a binding decision in advance helps you calculate the duties and restrictions that will apply.¹⁴

Next steps on Exportain

Browse Bangladeshi suppliers on Exportain, a B2B marketplace where supplier profiles carry document and photo review badges, and post a free RFQ at Exportain RFQs with the confirmed codes stated per piece. Exportain is not a party to the goods contract and does not inspect goods, book freight or clear customs, so keep your broker and your binding decision at the centre of the entry.