On Thursday the 1st of September 2022 a meeting was held with the CUA and the ATIA on the topic of Customs Value on imported products.
During the meeting, Customs experts on the field of value explained that in practice there are discounts that Customs accept, and some that are not accepted. It happened to be that invoices with no specification of a discount was not accepted by Customs due to the fact that Customs could not verify what kind of discount it was to able to make an evaluation. Also, we noticed that recently there were more kinds of discounts from online shopping stores such as E-bay, Amazon and Walmart, etc. that counted for every individual. This has caused Customs to re-evaluate the handling of the acceptance of discounts without specification.
Now, discounts resulting from online shopping will be accepted if:
- The discount is equal for every person and
- The invoice contains/reflects the final price of purchase without the subtraction of the sales tax or the discount, or a change in the price.
We have to remark that discounts will not be accepted on inland freight. In case of receiving an invoice on inland freight, the price must be paid in the same trajectory.
Customs Brokers that receive an invoice from an importer that does not reflect what was explained, do not have to submit a declaration to the Customs demanding the invoice that counts for each person. In order to avoid any discussions, individuals can send the receipt from the purchase or, in case of any doubts, Customs may demand to see this receipt.
This new handling in which discounts must be specified on the invoice will remain in force. If, for example, an invoice contains a discount with the marketing of a product, Customs will not accept this.
Last, Customs also announces an adjustment in the percentage of cash discount. It was 3% and will now be 5%.
This change regarding the handling of discounts on products from online shopping and the adjustment of the cash discount comes into force as of today, the 13th of September 2022.
