Korea Customs Service to Fully Streamline Submission of Tax Data for Imported Goods

The submission process for taxation data on imported goods will be fully streamlined.

On May 26, the Korea Customs Service announced that it would revise and implement the "Notice on the Operation of Customs Valuation" to simplify the submission of tax data for importers' price declarations.

Provided by Korea Customs Service

Under the revised notice, the Korea Customs Service will introduce and operate a "Batch Submission System for Taxable Value Declaration Data." Previously, all imported goods from all importing companies were required to submit tax data for every import transaction. Under the new system, only companies involved in eight specific areas related to import transactions will be required to submit tax data just once per year and at least one tax document per area.

The eight areas related to import transactions are: ▲royalty payments ▲production support ▲commissions ▲freight and insurance ▲container and packaging costs ▲post-import benefits ▲indirect payments ▲transactions with related parties.

The Batch Submission System for Taxable Value Declaration Data is being introduced to minimize unnecessary tax data submissions at the time of import declaration, thereby reducing the burden on taxpayers. At the same time, it will enable the Korea Customs Service to secure essential tax documents and promptly correct any declaration errors.

In particular, the Korea Customs Service plans to exclude companies that have faithfully fulfilled their price declaration and tax data submission obligations from tax audits and customs investigations. If selection for audit is unavoidable, a simplified post-tax review will be conducted.

Conversely, if a company required to submit documents fails to do so at the time of price declaration and does not comply with subsequent requests, the revised plan includes measures to strengthen enforcement, such as revoking monthly payment company approvals and giving priority consideration for customs investigations.

The revised plan was officially announced on May 26 and will be open for stakeholder feedback until June 16. After final review, it will be fully implemented starting July 1. However, the "Batch Submission System for Taxable Value Declaration Data" will be subject to a two-month grace period to allow time for preparation of tax documents and will apply to import declarations from September 1 onward.

Son Seongsu, Director of Audit at the Korea Customs Service, said, "We expect that the revision of the price declaration system will enhance convenience for taxpayers and, by enabling early correction of declaration errors based on submitted data, help protect companies from unexpected large-scale tax assessments."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.