After Customs post-clearance audits, the price of BMW and Mercedes cars imported from Germany increases dramatically

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The graph shows the average price of cars imported from Germany. Unit: $US / car. Photo: Thai Binh.

Tens of thousands of US dollars to be added

In the first two months of 2017, the average price declared for a car imported from Germany was $US 60,028 (excluding taxes). The price for cars imported from this country are at a high level in the Vietnam market.

Remarkably, the price of imported cars from Germany soared over many years. By comparison, the reporter of the Customs Newspaper showed that from 2012 to now, the average price of a car imported from Germany ranged from more than $US 30,000 to nearly $US 40,000.

Thus, the average price of cars imported from Germany in the past two months increased by at least $US 20,000, equivalent to an increase of 50% compared to previous years.

From 2012 to 2016, 2013 was the year with the highest average price of imported cars from Germany with $US 38,898 per car. This price is equivalent to 65% ​​compared to the car price in the first two months of 2017.

Especially, compared to the year with the lowest average price in 2012 ($US 31,301 per car), the average price of cars imported from Germany in 2017 has been exceeded by 92%.

Last year, the average price of imported cars from Germany was $US 35,517 per car, equivalent to 59% of the price in the first two months of 2017.

With an increase of tens of thousands of US dollars per car (without taxes), after adding taxes, consumers will have to pay more at least 1 billion vnd to own a car imported from Germany.

The price of imported cars from Germany may fluctuate year by year, depending on the brand and model of the car, but the sharp increase of the imported car price from Germany is also very noticeable.

Earlier in 2016, in accordance with the guidance of the leaders of the Ministry of Finance, the General Department of Vietnam Customs strengthened Customs post-clearance audits for imported cars with a large turnover, a high tax rate and a high import frequency including the luxury car brands such as Land Rover, BMW, Mercedes and Rolls-Royce.

Based on the results of Customs post-clearance audits, Customs officers have made tax assessment of hundreds of billions of vnd on many importers of luxury car brands.

Currently, in the Vietnam market, there are many famous car brands from Germany such as BMW, Mercedes, Audi and Volkswagen.

Customs post-clearance audits to be strengthened

In 2017, in addition to performing the tasks of trade facilitation for the business community in the field of export and import, the Customs force will continue to enhance the capacity and efficiency of State management on Customs. Particularly, the Customs force will strengthen anti-smuggling, risk management and Customs post-clearance audits.

In the field of Customs post-clearance audits, Customs force will focus on key enterprises having commodities with a high risk and signs of violation on codes or C/O such as automobiles, wine, beer, cigarettes, electronics, refrigeration, sanitary ware, glass and steel.

In fact, in recent times, many products with a high value and a high tax rate have had a high risk of tax fraud and tax evasion. In addition to solving some violated cases as mentioned above, in 2016, the Customs force also removed a series of tax evasion cases in the form of gifts and donations.

For example, in 2016, the Hai Phong Customs Department received a non-commercial declaration for imported cars in the form of gifts. The imported car was a four-seat Mercedes Benz S500 Maybach, a capacity of 4,663 cc, gasoline engine, new 100%, manufactured in 2015, originating from Germany. This car was considered to be one of the top super cars in the domestic market.

Although the super car was offered online at more than 10 billion vnd, it was only declared at $US 20,000.

In order to tackle the abnormally low declaration , the Hai Phong Customs Department rejected the declared value and implemented professional measures to request the import company to adjust the declared price. And then, the declared value of the car was adjusted to $US 98,352, nearly five times the initial price.

Some provisions on Customs post-clearance audits will be amended VCN- In order to reduce trouble for Customs declarants when they have to be subject to Customs ...

If the Hai Phong Customs Department had not detected and adjusted the declared price, the State budget would have lost a tax amount of nearly 3.5 billion vnd from the Mercedes Benz S500 Maybach.