The customs debt (tariff, VAT and other encumbrances) is the debt determined by the value of the merchandise and its tariff classification at the time of customs clearance. This determines whether the import or export is subject to import duties or, concerning, export, constituting the customs debt upright. The debtor is the person, physical or legal, who presents, or on behalf of which a customs declaration is presented.
· If the declarant acts through the representative, we will say that the representation is direct, the declarant being the principal responsible and the subsidiary representative of his client.
· If the representative acts on his own behalf and on behalf of his client, we will say that he holds the type of indirect representation by which the importer is the principal responsible for the debt, although the representative is responsible for the United Represented.
The method of payment of a customs debt contracted and communicated by the customs office would be the payment within the period granted to it (both terms should not be confused.) The contraction of the customs debt is produced when the customs authority has evidence of all the elements sufficient to calculate it and, once it has been verified, it notes that debt in the corresponding registries; On the other hand, it is considered notified when the customs authority’s lifting of the goods is granted. The regulation stipulates that such a period, if the granting of the deferral of payment is not authorized, should not exceed the following ten days from the date of communication to the debtor of the amount owed.
However, the payment may be postponed, which is subject to the Constitution of a guarantee by means of a deposit in cash or by bail. In the case of a cash deposit, it may also be worth the submission of a cheque which is guaranteed by the entity that has delivered it in favor of the customs authority or the delivery of any title that has a liberating power and is recognized by that authority Customs.
If you wish to opt for a bond, it must be submitted by writing to the effect and under existing model depending on the operation you wish to secure, and must be recognised before the notary and, where appropriate, a power of attorney be given to the legal services of the Tax administration (It is very important that in the documents for which we guarantee our operations all the requirements required by the administration to be accepted are included.) Otherwise, bail can be rejected by Customs causing a series of possible damages and unnecessary costs as well as delays in our operations.
In the letter, the guarantor must undertake to pay jointly with the debtor the amount or amounts guaranteed by the customs debt whose payment is payable. The guarantor shall be a third person, established in the community, and shall be authorized by the Customs authorities of a Member State.
The time limits of the administration to require the payment of the customs debt is three years for the tariff duties, four years for the other encumbrances. Concerning the extinction of the customs debt, it should be pointed out that the waste will remain under the supervision of the customs authorities until they are given a customs destination. The Customs debt to importation shall therefore be extinguished:
· When before the release of the goods declared for release free circulation has been ordered to be destroyed by order or with the authorization of the customs services, at the expense of the declarant and receiving one of the customs destinations contemplated for non-community goods, the waste resulting from the destruction of the merchandise will be dispatched by applying the value and the types that correspond to them on the date of the destruction.
· When it is abandoned in favor of the Public Treasury in accordance with the said services.
Finally, for practical purposes, the presentation via computer of the import declaration allows the contraction of the customs debt, if not instantaneous, within the period set by the customs regulations or, as a maximum, the second day following the one in which has granted the hoisting of the merchandise.