One-time ruling - Reduce time and costs for enterprises

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Customs officer of Sai Gon port border gate zone 1 guides enterprises on procedures. Photo: T.H

Saving time and costs

As one of the first enterprises registering one-time ruling at Customs Branch at Saigon Port Zone 1, Pham Tien Luc, staff of accounting division of Rong Viet Company said, after the ruling result for taxable value on imported gas cookers, the imported goods of the company no longer use the price ruling as the previous times but use the result of first ruling for customs clearance.

"This is very convenient, helping the company save time and costs, because the company no longer had to move a lot and wait and the goods are cleared right after completing specialised inspection procedures" said Luc. Although one-time ruling brings many benefits, the application time of one-time ruling results is from 60-90 days, which is too short and needs to be considered to be applied from six to 12 months to create more favourable conditions for enterprises.

A representative of Kho Do Trading Services Co. Ltd said the company often performs procedures to import wine products through Saigon port zone 4. Recently, with the guidance of the Customs Branch, the company has conducted one-time ruling for imported wine. In fact, the company’s partners have signed purchase contracts by year, but the purchase price is seasonal, so it is difficult to get a stable price for a long time, eligible for one-time ruling. Thereby, the company proposes that it is necessary to specify the documents and the time limit for using one-time ruling results and some other companies propose that theapplication time of one-time ruling results is 365 days and the companies are allowed to choose the ruling time.

Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tram, Head of Import-Export Division of Nabodaad Company said her company specialises in importing powerful motorcycles, from one to two consignments per month. Because the goods are imported from traditional customers, import prices are stable. To date, when the goods arrive at the port, the company carries out customs procedures and chooses the post-clearance audit method within 60 days. The procedures are fast and the goods are cleared immediately after the audit results are issued. However, after learning that Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department has implemented the one-time ruling and is being guided by Customs Branch at Sai Gon Port Zone 1 on the one-time ruling, the company registered the one-time ruling. Hopefully, the implementation procedures will be quick, saving more time and costs than post-clearance audit.

500 enterprises are prioritised

According to Ho Chi Minh City Department of Customs, the Department is expanding the use of one-time ruling to enhance trade facilitation for enterprises who contribute large revenue to HCM City as committed by Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department in the plan "The Business Community and Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department are reliable partners, accompanying each other for development"; to restrict multiple rulings on taxable prices for the same item with unchanged price (or taxable price), reducing working time with the customs agency and reducing pressure on customs officers. It is also focusing on resources to inspect shipments with signs of trade frauds through the declared prices of newly established and risky enterprises. In addition, the unit is improving the role and position of the customs force in the ruling activity and in implementing the agreement on the implementation of Article VII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).

Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department has issued a plan "Enhancing trade facilitation in one-time ruling service on taxable price, multiple use of the ruling results" with the list of 500 enterprises. Recently, to effectively carry out the one-time price ruling service to facilitate enterprises, Director of Customs Department of Ho Chi Minh City Dinh Ngoc Thang asked the heads of all units to assess the implementation of one-time ruling in terms of with the efficiency of the work and the capacity of each civil servant. A ruling on taxable price depends not only on qualifications and capacities of civil servants but also on searching, studying and collecting information to compare and evaluate to make accurate decisions.

Also, the Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department will continue to decentralise managers of subordinate Customs Branches to direct the calculation of taxable price such as investigating and identifying suspicious signs, organising ruling conferences, notifying calculation of taxable price; updating data to GTT02 system, reporting and amending reference prices on time. For goods of the 500 enterprises, if there are doubts on declarations in the customs process, Customs branches must conduct one-time ruling. After the Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department gives the ruling results on the first consignment, Customs branches shall not ask for ruling on taxable price for the following consignments if the ruling results are valid and the declared prices and taxable prices are not different with the first consignment.

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On August 31, 2018, Director of Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department issued Decision 2153/QD-HQHCM on decentralising Customs branches to hold a conference on ruling and one-time ruling and multiple use of the ruling results for imported and exported consignment subject to ruling at Branches according to current regulations on taxable prices. Also, Ho Chi Minh Customs Department decentralises its branches to conduct one-time ruling, However, in the first period, the number of enterprises registering one-time ruling is not significant, so far with commitments on facilitation by Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department, this number is increasing. Currently, there are dozens of enterprises registering one-time ruling, of which 25 enterprises have seen it conducted. Particularly, at Customs Branch of Sai Gon port zone 1, there are 32 enterprises registering the one-time ruling, 12 of which have conducted and been accepted for one-time rulings.

Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department is directing its branches to disseminate and support enterprises to comply with the law on one-time ruling.