The Customs Wing of National Board of Revenue (NBR) issued a standing order on Wednesday to ensure common valuation process of imported products in a bid to check under-invoicing.
As per the latest order, all consignments of the imported goods will have to be assessed for customs valuation through ASYCUDA World.
NBR Member (Customs Policy) Firoz Shah Alam issued the order, dated July 30, 2018, for the country's all customs houses, customs stations and commissionarates.
The customs houses will get one month's time to take preparation in this regard, as the order will come into force from September 01.
The latest order will make the Customs Valuation (fixation of prices for imported products) Rules 2000 fully effective after 18 years, official sources said.
They also said the revenue board could not fully implement the rules for its all customs houses during the last 18 years.
The order will help to bring uniformity in determining the actual value of imported goods. There have been severe inconsistencies in practices at different customs houses and among officials concerned in determining the value.
The new procedures will remove the inconsistencies, prevailing at different customs houses and LC stations, in determining the assessable value of same imported goods.
The customs officials, in many cases, follow their own interpretation in determining the value of imported goods that creates differences in their values.
Such differences cause loss of duties and taxes to the public exchequer, said a senior official.
Same products are assessed by different officials and even at different customs houses at different values due to not following the valuation rules properly, he also said.
With the latest order, all customs houses, LC stations and officials will follow the same procedures in determining the value of an imported good.
The assessment value will be the same at all entry points, like -- Chittagong Customs House, Benapole Customs House and Dhaka Customs House.
Besides, the traders will not be able to give misdeclaration over the prices of imported goods, and the accuracy of declared value will be verified at four stages.
The declared value of imported products will be compared with their declared values at different customs stations by different importers, said a senior customs official.
The incidences of misdeclaration will be detected in NBR's internal online system Asycuda World, as the valuation process will be completed through the system.
All previous data regarding prices, units, specifications, brands, country of origin and other relevant information of imported goods will be preserved in the system.
The importers will also have to submit a price declaration form to the customs authority.
The customs officials will use four parameters - actual transaction value, value of identical goods, value of similar goods and deductive value - in determining the assessable value of imported goods.
In the order, NBR instructed the customs commissioners to expedite release of consignments after conducting customs valuation and completing customs procedures.
doulot_akter@yahoo.com