COLOMBO: The Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) has opened an investigation over irregularities at the Customs regarding the imposition of levies and taxes imposed on import of tyres.
The investigation came following a complaint to the Anti Corruption Committee Secretariat by Kandy Tyre House (Pvt) Ltd which claimed that the Government was losing more than one billion rupees as revenue due to an under-invoicing racket by certain importers.
The main complaint has been that the Customs Department is making its calculations on levies and taxes including the Export Import Cess (EIC), Value Added Tax (VAT) and Port Aviation Levy (PAL) based on under- invoiced consignment of tyres, though the Customs duty was being imposed based on the calculation of the weight.
The company has pointed out some unscrupulous importers were engaged in the practice of submitting undervalued shipment invoices to evade payment of higher duty and related higher taxes and levies.
A system by the Customs to impose duty based on the weight was aimed at preventing importers gaining any undue advantage by under-invoicing, but the failure to take into consideration the value based on the ‘duty on weight’ scheme to impose other levies and taxes, was causing losses to the State.
The company has supported its complaint with other documentation obtained from the Customs which show the variation of import levies and taxes based on under-invoiced documentation.
The figures show that there was a drop in the income as the calculations were based on invoices produced by the importer which were under-invoiced. As a result last year’s loss is estimated to be one billion rupees.
During the ongoing investigations it has been pointed out that based on a Post Clearance Audit carried out on some of the consignments, the levies and taxes have been adjusted accordingly, avoiding a loss to the State.
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