jump to main content

Customs duty

Securing the company's success through a skilful customs strategy

Your contact

Lukas Bien

Associate Partner

If a company's success is based on international flows of goods and services, it depends to a large extent on a good customs strategy.

Customs planning includes environmental, trade and foreign trade aspects in addition to tax law issues. The applicable legal regulations are complex, partly national, partly EU, international or bilateral in nature. Disregarding such regulations is risky and has serious consequences for your business model. A violation can be associated with high financial disadvantages that far exceed the margin. International agreements designed to ensure free trade are being increasingly restricted. Traders are inadequately protected in the international market.

While the customs administration generally has three years to review the cross-border transaction, the entrepreneur must decide before the import or export how the delivery is to be treated under customs law. After import or export, the customs offence can generally no longer be reversed. Generally, the additional costs cannot be passed on to the customer. Suppliers can only rarely be prosecuted for incorrect declarations. The freight forwarders do not check the cargo during the declaration.

The right strategy for customs matters is therefore important for the success of a company. We are here for you!

Our range of customs consulting services

The import and export of goods and merchandise is subject to complex rules and increasingly strict requirements. Universal and multilateral trade agreements or anti-dumping duties may be relevant.

International trade is largely regulated: Anti-dumping duties, sanctions, preferential agreements, excise duty relief and charges must be observed. Authorisations and facilitations must be applied for and used. Compliance (observance of legal requirements) must be ensured.

Supply chains must be designed in such a way that trade is affected as little as possible by existing regulatory requirements. For example, the Supply Chain Act, environmental protection regulations and VAT implications must be taken into account.

If incorrect handling is recognised, the options of a correction or self-disclosure with exemption from punishment should be examined. However, these only provide relief under very specific conditions. An expert should therefore always be consulted in such cases.

If the tax authorities detect offences, they initiate criminal proceedings in accordance with special procedural regulations. Advice in advance and criminal defence by an expert in these areas of law is therefore essential.

Our range of services in the area of customs

Foreign trade law has become increasingly important in times of crisis because more and more sanctions are being imposed on individual countries and their officials. We check whether your flows of goods and services are authorised. In the case of exports, we check whether your goods fall under dual-use goods, whether their export is restricted or whether they are subject to a licence requirement. The categorisation of goods under the Dual-Use Regulation is challenging. To combat terrorism and money laundering, reporting obligations have been introduced that apply even to seemingly insignificant transactions.

We check whether your business transactions are subject to a foreign trade authorisation requirement or even a ban.

We prepare the necessary authorisation applications and handle the communication with the main customs office that accompanies the application - from clarifying detailed questions to reviewing notifications.

We prepare the necessary applications for relief and take over the accompanying communication with the main customs office - from the clarification of detailed questions to the review of notifications.

We prepare expert opinions on any issue relating to this field of law.

Our experienced tax consultants examine undesirable developments, the possible relief potential and the optimisation options.

As part of a ‘risk check’, we examine possible excise tax risks. With the help of a short catalogue of questions, we identify risks in the company. We scrutinise purchasing, the production process and sales as well as accounting and show you where there is potential for improvement.

We take care of communication and the drafting of statements during customs audits and in extrajudicial and judicial appeal proceedings on the basis of a strategy agreed with you.

In pending criminal tax or administrative offence proceedings, we support you with our extensive practical experience.

Have you ever had a customs audit or even a house search by customs investigators? A simulation can help you prepare your internal processes accordingly. The simulation of a "customs audit" always leads to an increase in data quality.

We create the necessary instructions for your company and the departments concerned.

We review and advise on the implementation of compliance management systems.

We support you with all reporting obligations relating to the international movement of goods, e.g. Excise Movement and Control System (EMCS). With the necessary ability to think outside the box, we answer your detailed questions about filling in forms and the necessary set-up and organisation of your energy management system.

Workshops or webinars with your employees from purchasing, production, accounting and sales sensitise them to compliance issues and lead to better coordination of processes. This includes training in dealing with supplier declarations, origin calculations and checking certificates of origin.

On request, we can organise corresponding in-house training courses and provide an insight into daily practice and the ‘classic’ problem areas.