Collectors of customs are charging only Rs 5000 as penalty under Customs Act, 1969 for not placing the packing list and original invoices inside the containers for clearance of imported consignments. Sources told Business Recorder on Tuesday that the issue of packing list/invoices would be discussed in the upcoming collectors of customs conference to be held on November 18, 2009.
The collector's conference would discuss strategy to meet revenue collection target for second quarter (October-December) 2009-10, valuation rulings, under-invoicing and anti-smuggling strategy. According to sources, collectors are empowered to levy maximum penalty upto Rs 25,000 for committing such offence under section 156 (1) of the Customs Act. Presently, only Rs 5000 has been imposed for not placing the packing list/original invoices inside the import container.
The board had made it compulsory for all the importers to declare packing lists and invoices inside the containers for clearance of imported consignments to check misdeclaration and under-invoicing of import cargo. However, it has not been specifically mentioned about the amount of penalty for not placing original invoices inside the import containers. Therefore, general clauses of penalty have been invoked to deal with such cases.
Under section 156 (1) of the Customs Act, "if any person contravenes any provision of this Act or any rule made there under, or abets any such contravention or fails to comply with any provision of this Act or any such rule with which it was his duty to comply where no express penalty has been provided elsewhere for such contravention or failure, such person shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding Rs 25,000."
Sources said that if an importer has not placed packing list/invoices inside the container door, his case would be adjudicated by the customs department for imposition of penalty. It has been apprehended that some importers might have presented fake invoices along with other import documents after payment of minimum penalty.
There is a need to considerably enhance the penalty to ensure compliance by the importers. In the presence of higher penalty, the importers would ensure placement of packing list/invoices inside the import containers.
The absence of packing list and purchase invoices inside the imported container was the major reason of misdeclaration and under-invoicing. The packing list gives complete details of packed consignments and invoices disclose the actual customs values on which the foreign sellers has sold the goods to the Pakistani importers.
In the absence of foreign sellers' invoices, it is very easy for the unscrupulous elements to show fake invoices to the customs department to apply low customs values for inaccurate assessment of customs duty. The presence of actual invoice inside the door of container would leave no room for the tax evader to show fake/forged invoices, as the actual customs value and price of the import commodity, purchased from foreign country, would be known to the customs department.
When the packing list/invoices are being pasted inside the container door, the actual rate of customs duty would be applicable on the import of any consignment, which cannot be contested by the importer. The invoices pasted inside the imported containers cannot be changed under the computerised clearance system, sources added.