Removing obstacles related to the taxable value for export goods

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Ha Nam Customs officers (Ha Nam Ninh Customs Department) guided Customs procedures for enterprises. Photo: H. Nu

Some enterprises asked the General Department of Customs to clarify the legal basis of Official Letter No. 905 / TCHQ-TXNK dated 17th February 2017. They also asked whether Customs procedures then complied with Official Letter 905 / TCHQ-TXNK or Circular 38/2015 / TT-BTC (referred to Circular 38)?

Regarding the legal basis of Official Letter No. 905 / TCHQ-TXNK, the General Department of Customs said that Clause 1, Article 3 of Circular No. 39/2015 / TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance (hereinafter referred to as Circular 39 ), the customs declarant shall declare and determine customs value according to the principles and methods of customs valuation prescribed in the Customs Law 2014 and Government’s Decree No. 08/2015 / ND-CP (referred to as Decree 08), and shall be responsible under the law for the accuracy and truthfulness of declarations and results of customs valuation.

Accordingly, the Customs office shall check the declared value of the customs declarants. In case of doubts about the declared value, the Customs office shall consult with the customs declarants to clarify the doubt. During the consultation, if the customs declarants fail to prove or explain doubts related to a Customs valuation in the prescribed deadline, the Customs office shall impose tax as stipulated in Clause 1, Article 39 of the Law on Tax Administration and Clause 3, Article 33 of Decree No. 83/2013 / ND-CP detailing a number of articles of the Law on Tax Administration and the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of Law on Tax Administration.

Therefore, the decision of tax assessment by a Customs officer when the enterprise fails to prove doubts on of value in the consultation process is consistent with the provisions of the Law on Tax Administration. And it is not necessary to carry out the post clearance audit.

According to the questions of enterprises, the General Department of Customs answered that the content of Official Letter No. 905 / TCHQ-TXNK has legal basis is Article 39 of Law on Tax Administration and Clause 3 Article 33 of Decree No. 83/2013 / ND-CP, so there is enough of a basis for implementation. Article 33 of Decree No. 83/2013 / ND-CP detailing a number of articles of the Law on Tax Administration and the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Tax Administration.

During the past time, press and media agencies and business community have reported to the General Department of Customs that some provincial and municipal Customs Departments handled shipments suspected of declared value not in accordance with the regulations

The General Department stated that Article 21 of Decree 08, Article 25 of Circular 38 stipulated that: If the declared value is suspicious but there is no sufficient basis for rejecting and the Customs declarants request for consultation, the Customs office shall release the goods based on tax paid by the Customs declarants or declared and determined tax guaranteed by credit institutions and then conduct value consultation within a maximum of 5 working days

If the declared value is suspicious but there is no sufficient basis for rejecting and the Customs declarants do not request consultation, the Customs office shall release the goods based on tax paid by the Customs declarants or declared and determined tax guaranteed by credit institutions and then implement post clearance audit under the provisions.

In order to put an end to the situation, the General Department of Customs issued Official Letter No. 6338 / TCHQ-TXNK dated 27th September, 2017, to instruct the provincial and municipal Customs Departments to organize, inspect, consult and determine value in accordance with provisions in Law on Tax Administration, Customs Law and Decree No. 08, Circular 38, Circular 39 of the Ministry of Finance and Official Letter 905 / TCHQ-TXNK dated 17th February 2017 of the General Department of Taxation and related documents as well.

In which, checking in detail name of goods, factors affecting Customs value in the guideline at Point 1, Section I of Official Letter No. 905 / TCHQ-TXNK, and at the same time comparing the declared value with the value database for accurate identification of suspicious or unsuspicious signs of declared value. So that, not missing shipments with a low declared value without identification of suspicious signs for further handling in following stages.

Rejecting the declared value during the consultation or post-clearance audit on the basis of comparing with the four conditions for determination of the value transaction specified in Clause 3, Article 6 of Circular No. 39, on the basis of rejecting declared value stipulated in Clause 1, Clause 3 of Article 25, Article 142 of Circular 38 and provisions on tax assessment in Clause 1, Article 39 of the Law on Tax Administration, with dossiers, declared value and information provided and explained by enterprises at within the time of consultation or post-clearance audit

Customs valuation for cases where there are sufficient basis for rejecting the declared value during the consultations or post-customs clearance audit in accordance with the orders, principles and methods of Customs valuation prescribed in Circular 39. The valuation must be implemented on the basis of collecting sufficient information sources and is not subject to subjective inspection on value at the List or is not too high or too low.

Do not use the results form complaint settlement of an enterprise as a basis for determining the suspicious signs or accepting the value declared or valuation for other enterprises.

General Department of Customs emphasized that it is drafting amendments to Article 21 of Decree 08, Article 25 of Circular 38 to overcome obstacles in the process of implementation in the direction: if the declared value is suspicious, the Customs office shall inform the basis for the suspicion, value and valuation method of Customs and consultation time, at the same time release the goods according to regulations; Customs declarants shall conduct the value consultation according to regulations.

T&P Trading Freshfoods Company Limited asked, in the coming time, which changes in Customs administration will be made in order to reduce inconvenience and cost caused by value consultation many times and additional tax payment?

For the value examination, consultation and determination in accordance with the Law on Tax Administration, the Customs Law, Decree No. 08, Circular 38 and Circular 39, the General Department of Customs has introduced Official Letter No. 6338 / TCHQ-TXNK dated 27th September 2017 to guide the organization, implementation of value examination, consultation and determination according to regulations.

According to the General Department of Customs, in order to create conditions for enterprises not to conduct consultations many times during the Customs process, Point b, Clause 3, Article 25 of Circular 38 stipulates the one-time consultation. Accordingly, the customs declarants are required to consult once if they satisfy the conditions that imported and exported under the same sale contract and divided into multiple shipments for import and export and information and data for value examination and determination does not change

Enterprises may base on the above-mentioned provisions to remove existing problems. In the process of developing a Circular amending and supplementing Circular 38, the General Department of Customs shall continue to study and amend contents of the one time consultation to create more favorable conditions for exporters and importers.

Previously, to facilitate enterprises, General Department of Customs issued Official Letter 905 / TCHQ-TXNK guiding provisions in Article 25 of Circular No. 38. Accordingly, the Customs shall conduct consultation within 30 days from the date of registration of the customs declaration for shipments with the suspicious signs of value subject to the Appendix 1 attached to Official Letter No. 905 / TCHQ-TXNK or shipments with signs of suspicious signs of value subject to the consultation options of enterprises.

The consultation result can be reused if the enterprise commits VCN- If goods are imported or exported under the same sales contract and divided into multiple shipments, ...

In the cases where the customs office has sufficient basis for rejecting the declared value, but the enterprise does not agree or the enterprise agrees with the basis of rejecting the declared value but fails to make additional declaration within the time limit or the authorized representative of the enterprise does attend the value consultation in time limit, or the attendant to the consultation is not authorized representative of the enterprises under the provisions of law without a power of attorney, the tax shall be imposed in line with provisions in Clause 1 of Article 39 of the Law on Tax Administration and the post clearance audit shall not be done under the provisions of Point g.2, Clause 3, Article 25 of Circular No. 38.