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The customs debt is the amount of customs duties owed to Customs. This amount can consist of the import duty and, if applicable, anti-dumping or countervailing duties. National taxes such as VAT, excise duty, consumption tax, and coal tax do not fall under the term ‘customs debt’ but are levied alongside customs duties.
Every day, importers and especially customs brokers submit thousands of import declarations. During the verification of these declarations, Customs regularly identifies discrepancies that lead to data corrections. As a result, you may owe more customs duties than initially declared. However, these corrections often only scratch the surface. Customs has adopted a systematic approach to post-clearance audits of declarations, known as the post importation control (also referred to as CNI).
If Customs – during the CNI – believes that insufficient customs duties were previously levied, they can recover the underpaid duties. This is done by issuing an intention for an invitation to pay (UTB) and later by sending the invitation to pay itself.