pay import or export duty in arrears

If customs authorities find that import or export duties were not claimed in the amount required by law, you may receive a subsequent claim.

The customs authorities determine the import or export duties essentially on the basis of the information you provide in the customs declaration. If the customs authorities, you yourself or other parties involved establish that import or export duties have not been collected or have been collected in an insufficient amount, these may be collected subsequently. You will then receive a new assessment.

The original collection of duties may be incorrect, for example, due to false information in the customs declaration or errors in the calculation or application of customs regulations. The notice corrects the assessment of duty and informs you of the actual amount of duty due.

In exceptional cases, the customs authorities may refrain from post-clearance recovery, for example for reasons of

• legal certainty,
• the protection of legitimate expectations, for example under certain conditions in the case of an undetectable error on the part of the customs authorities, or
• administrative economy, for example in the case of a sum of less than EUR 10.00.

Please enclose any relevant documents that you have. The main customs office may request further documents from you.

Forms: no
Online procedure possible: no
Written form required: yes
Personal appearance required: no

• You have received an incorrect duty assessment from the customs authorities.
• There are no grounds for the customs authorities to refrain from subsequent recovery.

• Appeal. Detailed information on how to lodge an appeal can be found in your supplementary claim notice.
• Action before the tax court

If you are not certified for the IT procedure ATLAS (Automated Tariff and Local Customs Clearance System), you will receive the subsequent claim notice by post.

• If you notice that customs duties have not been claimed or have been claimed in an amount that is too low, contact the responsible main customs office that issued your original duty notice in writing or by telephone.
• Inform the main customs office of the incorrect declaration.
• Under certain circumstances, you will receive an additional demand notice from the customs authority.

The main customs office responsible is the one from whose district you operate your business or, if you do not operate a business, the one in whose district you are domiciled. If your business is operated from a location outside Germany or if you do not have a place of residence in Germany, the main customs office in whose district you first appear for tax purposes is locally responsible.

Payment of the additional claim:

• Refer to the supplemental claim notice for the payment deadline.

Statute of limitations of a subsequent claim:

• The customs debt is time-barred if more than 3 years have passed since it was incurred. If the debt was incurred as a result of a criminal offence, such as import smuggling, the limitation period is extended to up to 10 years.

As a rule, two weeks after the main customs office has received all the information necessary for calculating the import duties.

There are no costs for you.