Expert tip: Efficient customs risk analysis and avoidance in business practice

In 2022, the German customs administration demanded a total of €102.9 million in customs duties and import VAT from companies as a result of retrospective audits. This impressive sum illustrates that many companies have difficulties with import customs clearance and that there are considerable discrepancies in this area. In view of this development, the customs administration is significantly stepping up its monitoring activities and strengthening the customs inspection service, especially after the Covid pandemic was contained.

This increased attention from the customs administration comes as no surprise. Modern evaluation software enables inspectors to take an even closer look and uncover possible infringements. It is a fallacy to believe that customs clearance eliminates all customs risks. In fact, customs inspectors check retrospectively and like to refer to the last three completed financial years. In the run-up to an audit, the customs auditor analyzes the company in detail, for example by carrying out an intensive audit of the accounts. In the past, fines or criminal tax proceedings were rarely initiated, but these times have changed significantly.

In many companies, however, there is still a blind spot with regard to customs risk analysis within the Supply Chain and Procurement department. However, more and more companies are realizing that customs is not a minor issue and that internal customs expertise is essential. Unfortunately, many managing directors only realize that avoidable mistakes have been made after a customs audit. The customs administration traditionally shows little understanding for such negligence.

To avoid this problem, it is advisable for companies to be informed internally about customs issues and to identify and avoid customs risks at an early stage. Our company offers you an effective solution for this: In a simulation, we show you how a customs inspection works. With the help of modern analysis software, we quickly aggregate the data from your ERP system and pursue a risk-based and resource-saving approach for our clients.

Our competent team accompanies you and supports you in successfully mastering the challenges in the area of customs and foreign trade. In doing so, we rely on state-of-the-art IT compliance technologies to ensure a smooth process. As data-intensive issues often make a full audit impossible, we rely on a risk-based and resource-saving audit simulation for our customers, which includes import, export, origin of goods and preferential regulations as well as bans and restrictions.

The advantages of our services are numerous:

• Convenient data transfer from various sources such as ASCII, EBCDIC, MS Access, dBase, MS Excel, Lotus 123, SAP / AIS, AS 400, XML, ODBC, PDF, etc.
• Revision security of the data so that it remains unchangeable
• Use of predefined test tools
• Automation of analysis using macros
• Complete audit documentation and history for optimum traceability
• Data export in various formats such as PDF, Excel, etc.

If you are interested in our service or have further questions, our competent contact persons from the purchasing, financial accounting and management departments will be happy to help you. Simply contact us using the contact form provided, we look forward to supporting you.