Customs value
The customs value of a commodity is the value on which the calculation of the customs debt is based. The customs value is composed of the invoice amount, additions and deductions. An example would be u. a. the proportionate freight and insurance costs up to the point of departure in the European Union . Put simply, the customs value is the value of the goods when they cross the border into the customs area of the European Union .
The customs value is only used for ad valorem duties (e.g. 10% of the customs value of the T-shirts), not for specific duties (e.g. EUR 2 per piece of T-shirt).
The basis for determining the customs value is usually the invoice price , less any discount , and the delivery conditions expressed by INCOTERMS .
GATT Customs Valuation Code
In 1947 the GATT introduced Article VII for the first time, a globally recognized regulation for value customs clearance. Before there was no international regulation regarding the determination of the customs value and the various customs systems differed considerably.
In Art. VII the "actual value" was defined as the basis for the customs value. This should be the price that can actually be achieved for the goods in free trade. So it was not based on the price of the actual commercial transaction, but a fictitious average price. These average prices were set as best they could in the "Brussels Definitions on Customs Valuation", but the system was found to be completely unusable.
Only in 1979 was the fictitious average price, after long negotiations in the GATT Customs Value Code (GZK), replaced by the price at which the goods to be valued were actually sold. This transaction value was no longer virtual, but related to each individual trade.
Customs valuation
The GATT Customs Value Code (GZK) introduced a tiered system for determining the customs value. This should also cover those cases in which it was not possible to determine the transaction value. This system is structured as follows:
The customs value is used as the basis for calculating the customs debt:
- the transaction value of the imported goods (Art. 1 GZK)
- the transaction value for the same goods (Art. 2 GZK)
- the transaction value for goods of equal value (Art. 3 GZK)
- a sales price in the importing country corrected according to the deductive method (Art. 5 GZK)
- a value calculated from the production costs (Art. 6 GZK)
- the value estimated according to the so-called final method (Art. 7 GZK)
This tier system is to be worked through from top to bottom for the customs valuation and the highest applicable level is used for the customs valuation. This is why this system is also called the "customs value staircase". In most cases, the customs value is determined based on the transaction value of the imported goods. The other regulations relate to more or less rare special cases and exceptions.
EU customs law
The requirements of the GATT Customs Valuation Code are implemented in EU law in Articles 28 to 36 of the Community Customs Code .
In Germany only two of the six methods are usually used:
1. The transaction value for the imported goods (Art. 29 ZK) and, if the customs value cannot be determined thereafter,
2. The final method (Art. 31 ZK).
Example for the customs value calculation
Incoterm: EXW Rechnungspreis: 1.000 EUR Frachtkosten bis zur Gemeinschaftsgrenze: 300 EUR Versicherungskosten bis zur Gemeinschaftsgrenze: 100 EUR Zollwert: 1.000 + 300 + 100 = 1.400 EUR
Incoterm: CIF Hamburg² (= Entladehafen und Eingang in die Gemeinschaft.) Rechnungspreis: 1.500 EUR Der Rechnungspreis enthält sämtliche Elemente des Zollwerts³ Zollwert: 1.500 EUR
Anmerkungen: ² Ein Incoterm muss immer den Ort angeben, ab bzw. bis zu dem er gilt. ³ Vorausgesetzt, dass nicht weitere, nicht berechnete Elemente wie z. B. Lizenzgebühren, Wiegegebühren oder Beistellungen existieren.
literature
- Thomas Möller, Gesa Schumann, Stefan Vonderbank: Customs value - manual and systematic presentation , Bundesanzeiger-Verlag, ISBN 978-3-89817-419-0
