Excise Taxation Customer Bulletin 6 Occasional Importation of Products Subject to Excise Duty www.tulli.fi April 2014 Occasional Importation of Products Subject to Excise Duty Temporary registered consignee In excise legislation, the term temporary registered consignee refers to a business or private person who, for business purposes, may occasionally receive products sent under a duty suspension arrangement. The products may be received from another Member State or from a place of importation located in Finland. A temporary registered consignee is obliged to pay excise duty on the products in Finland. To act as a temporary registered consignee, the trader must be temporarily registered by Customs in respect of one receipt of a product consignment. This registration is only carried out when products subject to harmonised excise duties are received. Other occasional consignees Other occasional consignees are not required to obtain a specific authorisation from Customs and need not be registered, but should nevertheless observe the procedures described below. The consignee is also liable to pay excise duty in Finland when products for which excise duty has already been paid in another EU country are received in Finland. Information on the tax treatment of excisable products received by private persons is available in the Customer Bulletin Customs and tax treatment of gifts received from outside Finland (No. 10). Information about the licences required for importing alcohol can be obtained from the National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health, Valvira (www.valvira.fi). >> Customer bulletins are available on the Customs website http://www.tulli.fi/en/finnish_customs/publications/index.jsp
Which products are subject to excise duty 2 (5) Excise duties harmonised within the EU 1. Excise duty on alcohol and alcoholic beverages beer wine and other fermented alcoholic beverages intermediate products (e.g. fortified wines containing alcohol not more than 22 per cent by volume) ethyl alcohol (e.g. spirits and liquors). 2. Excise duty on manufactured tobacco cigarettes cigars and cigarillos other smoking tobacco in addition, national excise duty is levied on other products containing tobacco and on cigarette paper. 3. Excise duty on liquid fuels motor spirit (leaded and unleaded motor spirit and blend leaded unleaded) diesel oil light fuel oil heavy fuel oil jet fuel aviation spirit. 4. Excise duty on electricity and certain energy sources electricity coal natural gas. National excise duties 1. Excise duty on sweets, ice cream and soft drinks Dutiable are, for instance, sweets and chocolate products, cocoa powder containing added sugar or other sweetening matter, ice cream, sorbet, water beverages, juices, various concentrates and powders intended for preparing drinks. The duty is also levied on most foods for particular nutritional uses, various sports drinks, energy gels, flavoured syrups as well as soy and oat beverages. 2. Beverage container tax containers of beverages intended to be consumed as such and classified in Chapter 22 of the customs tariff nomenclature (except containers made of liquid packaging board, containers with a capacity of more than five litres and containers of beverages delivered for consumption by small producers referred to in the Act on Beverage Container Tax). 3. Tax on lubricants lubricating oils (see customs tariff heading 2710) lubricating preparations (see customs tariff heading 3403).
3 (5) 4. Oil damage duty oil damage duty is levied for oil imported into or transported through Finland. (Oils subject to oil damage duty are the liquid products listed under headings 2707, 2709 and 2710. These include crude oil and its derivative products, as well as petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals.) How to proceed 1) Receipt of products from the EU area Commercial movements Temporary registered consignees may, for business purposes, at a specific time receive a specific quantity of products subject to harmonised excise duties moving under temporary duty suspension from another Member State or from a place of importation located in Finland. They may not hold or dispatch untaxed products. Before the products are dispatched, the trader is to notify the customs authority of the products to be dispatched and to provide a guarantee for the payment of the excise duty. After receiving the notification and the guarantee, the customs authority authorises the trader to act as a temporary registered consignee. The authorisation is issued for one specific consignment received. When moving products subject to harmonised excise duties under a duty suspension arrangement, traders are required to use a computerised system and an electronic administrative document. More information about the procedure can be found in the Customer Bulletin on EMCS and the movement of goods under duty suspension. When products subject to harmonised excise duties and released for consumption in another Member State are moved to Finland, excise duties are levied on the products in Finland. The consignor must enclose a simplified accompanying document with the products in the Member State of dispatch. Before the products are dispatched, a notification about their consignment must be sent to the customs authority and a guarantee be provided for them. No prior notification or guarantee is required when products subject to national excise duties are received. Acquisitions made by private persons A private person can only acquire products that have been released for consumption. If a private person acquires, for personal use, products from another Member State which are subject to excise duty and are transported to Finland by another private person or a professional trader, and their movement is not a case of passenger import or distance selling, the person must pay excise tax in Finland for the products received. Before initiating a movement of products subject to harmonised excise duties, the private person must send a notification to the customs authorities about the products that are to be sent to Finland and provide a guarantee for the payment of the excise duties. No prior notification or guarantee is required for movements of products subject to national excise duties.
Providing a guarantee Customs requires a guarantee for products subject to harmonised excise duties which is equivalent to the amount of the excise duty to be collected later. The guarantee form can be filled in at customs offices and is also available on the Customs website. A proforma invoice or a commercial invoice and an order or a confirmation of order containing the necessary details about the consignor and the goods must be enclosed with the form. The guarantee must be provided and paid at the customs office or to the bank account of Customs. The guarantee may also be furnished by fax or post, if appropriate. If the guarantees are provided for products subject to harmonised excise duties, and the products are moved under a duty suspension arrangement, the excise number of the buyer s authorisation is required for transporting the products within the EMCS system. The temporary registered consignee will receive this number from Customs excise authorities after providing the guarantee. In the case of products subject to harmonised excise duties that have been released for consumption, a guarantee is provided as described above; however, the excise number of the buyers authorisation is not required. The guarantee should be provided immediately after the products have been ordered, as the seller may not send the products until he has received the first copy of the guarantee form (see annex) endorsed by Finnish Customs. No guarantee is required when receiving products subject to national excise duties (see above). 4 (5) 2) Importation from outside the EU If a temporary registered consignee receives products from a registered consignor who places the goods under a duty suspension arrangement after the import, the temporary registered consignee is required to provide a guarantee for the products that he is to receive. If products are imported from outside the Community and not immediately placed under duty suspension after their importation, the provisions and regulations regarding customs duty will, as a rule, be applied when carrying out the taxation and the procedure as a whole. Customs collects the excise duty in accordance with the provisions on customs clearance at the service points for cash customers and does not hand over the products to the customer until he has paid the excise duty. However, this procedure is not applied if the taxpayer is a registered customer referred to in the Finnish Customs Act. In such cases, the Excise Sections of the customs office will carry out the excise taxation. Customs does not require guarantees for imports received from outside the EU area. Tax declaration A temporary registered consignee or other occasional importer has to file a tax declaration with Customs. The declaration must be filed within four working days (Mon Fri) from the day of receipt of the products or the day on which the obligation to pay excise duty otherwise arose, including that day. He may also send the tax declaration by post within the same time limit.
5 (5) The declaration time limit of four working days is not applied if it is discovered at a control or otherwise that the products have been imported or received without observing the provisions on taxation and control laid down in the Excise Taxation Act. Declaration forms, separate for each type of excise duty, are available at customs offices and on the Customs website. A copy of a proforma or commercial invoice must be enclosed with the tax declaration. The computerised EMCS system is to be used when moving products subject to harmonised excise duties under duty suspension. A temporary registered consignee must by using this system issue a report of receipt for the products no later than five working days from the date the movement ended. When receiving products that have been released for consumption in the country of departure, other occasional importers should annex to the tax declaration a copy of the second copy of the simplified accompanying document or, alternatively, another document accepted by Customs. The quantities of products should be entered in the declaration as full units (e.g. 55.55 kg => 55 kg). After having received the tax declaration, Customs issues a tax decision and mails it to the customer. How excise duty is paid A temporary registered consignee or other occasional importer has to pay the excise duty within ten working days of receiving the products. A bank giro form to be used for making the payment is enclosed with the tax decision. If a guarantee has been provided, Customs offsets the excise duty against the guarantee, and in case the guarantee exceeds the amount of the duty, repays the excessive amount to the bank account mentioned by the consignee of the products in the guarantee form. If the guarantee is insufficient to cover the excise duty, the trader must pay the missing amount within ten working days of receiving the products in accordance with the bank giro form enclosed with the tax decision using the reference number given in the form. If no guarantee has been provided (national excised duties and imports from outside the EU), the excise duty must be paid within ten working days of receiving the excisable products. >> Further information available from Excise Information for business customers tel. +358 295 52 321 (from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.) valmisteveroneuvonta@tulli.fi The EU countries are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The EEA countries are the EU countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.