The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has given additional responsibilities to the Directorate General of Customs Valuation to prevent the flight of capital and trade-based money laundering taking place through mis-invoicing of exports.
The FBR on Friday has issued SRO.503(I)/2021 to specify the powers and functions of the Directorate General of Customs Valuation.
The directorate would now have the powers to focus on under-invoicing of imports, also identify cases of over-invoicing of imports of low-duty or exempt items, and mis-invoicing of exports to prevent the flight of capital or trade-based money laundering and to convey such information to concerned formations.
Directorate General of Customs Valuation would develop and maintain a modern and effective system for the valuation of imported and exported goods. It would ensure uniformity and neutrality of valuation practices across the country and improve voluntary compliance by trade and industry regarding proper declaration of value.
The directorate would also safeguard revenue by providing assistance and advice to the field formations and support field formations in preventing the flight of capital and trade-based money laundering through mis-invoicing.
The Directorate General of Customs Valuation shall consist of the following officers: Director General of Valuation; Directors of valuation; Additional Directors; Deputy/ or Assistant Directors; Principal Appraisers and Valuation Officers and Appraisers or officers with any other designation.
The responsibilities of the Directorate General of Customs Valuation shall be to ensure that the laws and rules support the delivery of an effective valuation program, by making recommendations to the Federal Board of Revenue about legal and procedural changes as required from time to time.
The DG would develop suitable outreach programs limy trade and industry for creating awareness about customs valuation regulations and record-keeping requirements with the objective of improving voluntary compliance.
The directorate would develop suitable training modules. in consultation with Directorate General of Training & Research focused at providing necessary skills from basic level to advanced level to officers and officials working in all relevant functions including Model Customs Collectorate, Post Clearance Audit and Valuation Directorates.
The responsibilities of the Directorate General of Customs Valuation also included determining the value of goods under section 25A of the Customs Act, 1969 for issuing valuation ruling and carrying out final determination of value in cases of provisional assessment under section 81 of the Customs Act referred by the field formations.
The directorate would develop and maintain a center for issuing advance rulings on valuation in accordance with international best practices.
It would provide input to the risk management committee on valuation-related risk parameters and checks and also establish a two-way information exchange system with the Directorate General of Post Clearance Audit for valuation-related issues and risks.
The directorate would build, maintain and update valuation information systems and support the development of fully automated valuation modules in the Customs Computerized System for proper valuation of goods in accordance with Customs Valuation Agreement or World Trade Organization and regularly obtain reference price data from accredited publications, official price lists, websites, through market inquiries as well as findings of Post Clearance Audit and other authentic sources, and to make such data available to field formations through the customs computerized system.
The directorate would have the powers to carry out proactive monitoring of valuation of goods imported into and exported from the country vis-a-vis international price trends, conduct analysis and undertake sector-wise studies of items prone to mis-invoicing and advise the field formations regarding any abnormalities in valuation during clearances.
Courtesy: Pro Pakistani