BANGKOK: The Customs Department will announce adjusted reference prices for the first 36 items used for import duty calculation within the next two months as part of its efforts to reduce importers’ arguments about tax bills.
The items always need customs officials’ discretion in evaluating imported prices to calculate tax payments, director-general Somchai Sujjapongse said. They include cars, electrical appliances and big motorcycles. Adjustment of reference prices will be extended to other items later, he said.
Creating reference prices for imported goods allows officials to have information in arguing with importers who declare prices below reference prices.
It will also boost customs officials’ confidence that they are not breaching the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) valuation system, introduced in January 2000.
The GATT system requires customs officials of World Trade Organization members to accept imported prices declared by importers to facilitate trade, but they need to use comparative prices of similar products in cases where officials reject the prices proposed by importers.
The Customs Department has not adjusted the reference prices for a long time, Mr Somchai said, adding that import duty tax collection would increase if the reference prices were raised. The increase in reference prices will also boost revenue from value-added tax and excise tax.
Mr Somchai said the department’s duty on imported luxury cars had risen by 10%, but the number of imported luxury cars had declined by 10% after tougher inspections of price declarations by independent dealers.
He recently said the department would create a database of luxury car benchmark prices to standardise duties charged on vehicles imported by authorised and independent dealers.
The move came after authorised dealers complained that independent dealers declared lower prices for imported cars even when they were the same model, causing their cars to be charged at higher rates.
The Customs Department collected 76.9 billion baht, about 6% or 4.81 billion short of target, from last October to May.
Its tax revenue target has been set at 122.4 billion baht for this fiscal year. Mr Somchai estimates that the department will miss the target by 7-8 billion baht.
