The German Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) issued new transfer pricing (“TP”) guidance on June 6, 2023 with customs implications. Last year, Germany’s highest tax court issued its decision in the Hamamatsu case, ruling that both upward and downward lump sum retroactive transfer pricing adjustments, which occur after the decisive moment for customs valuation purposes, have no relevance for the customs value which shall only reflect the “real economic value” at the time of importation…
In our blog post “The Hamamatsu TP/customs valuation case comes to a surprising conclusion” we summarized the final judgment of the German Federal Fiscal Court (Bundesfinanzhof; “BFH”) in the “Hamamatsu” case. The BFH had ruled that taxpayers cannot claim refund of import duties in case of lump-sum TP adjustments applied at the end of the fiscal year that result in a subsequent lump-sum decrease in resale prices and thus in an intercompany credit note for…
On 17 May 2023, the European Commission (the “Commission”) published a set of proposals that, according to the Commission, constitute the “most ambitious and comprehensive reform of the EU Customs Union since its establishment in 1968.” Please find our previous blogpost in which we anticipated the proposal here. The proposals now published aim to: Increase duty revenue; Avoid illicit and non-compliant products; Align the current customs framework with the current e-commerce landscape; and Uniformize the…
Hot on the heels of the German Federal Fiscal Court’s publication of its final decision in the Hamamatsu case (our blog on that here), UK Customs (HMRC) have today published updated guidance on the customs valuation of imports, replacing its previous guidance (Notice 252). What jumps out at first glance is a seeming change in policy with regards to the valuation of goods sold between related parties, with HMRC advising “you will not usually be…
Retroactive TP-adjustments – whether upwards or downwards – Highest German Court rules that they do not have an impact on the customs value. On 17 May 2022 (published end of September 2022) the German Federal Fiscal Court (or: Bundesfinanzhof. “BFH”) – which is the Highest court for tax related matters in Germany – gave its final judgement in the (in)famous Hamamatsu case. This proceeding is part of the referral to the European Court of Justice…
The Customs Expert Group of the European Commission’s DG TAXUD on ‘Import and Export formalities’ met on 16 March 2022. The minutes of the meeting have been released on 25 April 2022. Several topics were discussed, notably the following subjects: The new guidance on the Interpretation of Article 173 of the Union Customs Code (UCC) on the amendment of the customs declarations: in this guidance, it will be reminded that the customs declaration should reflect…
Representatives of the EU and New Zealand held negotiations from 14 to 31 March 2022, discussing most areas of the future free trade agreement between the jurisdictions. According to a two-pager published by the European Commission, EU’s request to be exempt from New Zealand’s import customs fees is the only outstanding element in the text as far as the topic “Trade in goods” is concerned. Various items remain open in respect of Rules of Origin…
Baker McKenzie’s Global Compliance News Blog published “Global: 2022: International Trade Developments in a Challenging New World,” which can be viewed here.
Our EU Compliance, International Trade and Customs Groups are bringing together their considerable local knowledge and on the ground experience to deliver their third webinar series. This year’s series will cover a range of customs, export control, trade sanctions and anti-bribery and corruption topics. Our first webinar will be on Thursday 27 February 2014 on the topic of “Union Customs Code: What to expect from the draft Implementing Provisions and how to take part in…
On 13 January 2014 the European Commission issued a proposal[1] that would, as part of the changes which will be rolled out through the implementation of the Union Customs Code (“UCC”), remove the facility for the use of ‘first sale’ for export in European Union (“EU”). What is First Sale For Export? In international trade, there are often a number of successive sales before the goods’ clearance through Customs. For example, goods imported into the EU…