Amendment of a declaration after release

• The amount of import duty charged is too high.
• The goods are defective or the goods do not comply with the terms of the contract.
• Customs has made an error.
• The customs debt was incurred in exceptional circumstances, which in some cases entitle you to request administrative review (so-called reasons of equity).
• The amount of customs debt charged is too low.
• An incorrect detail has been provided in the customs declaration, although it does not affect the customs taxation. Such a detail can be, for example, the mode of transport or kind of packages. 

The following details in a customs declaration confirmed by Customs with a customs clearance decision cannot be amended. 

• declarant (importer)
• representative (agent)
• status of representation
• customs procedure
• FIVER e-invoicing address for payments.

In these cases, you should request Customs to invalidate the customs clearance decision, and at the same time, you should also submit a replacement customs declaration. In the invalidation request, you have to provide the MRN of the replacement declaration. 

1-year time limit

If the following two conditions are met, submit the request for an administrative review (amendment request) within one year of the date of confirmation of the customs clearance decision.

1. The goods do not comply with the terms of the contract or they are defective.
2. The goods have been taken out of the customs territory of the Union, or placed under the inward processing procedure (destroyed), or the external transit, the customs warehousing or the free zone procedure.

More information on the destruction of goods is available on the page about destruction of goods in commercial traffic (the link is not yet functional).

3-year time limit

If you’re applying for repayment or remission of custom duty in the case of overcharged amounts of customs duty or an error by Customs, request an administrative review within three years of the date of confirmation of the customs clearance decision. The three-year time limit also applies if you’re requesting review for reasons of equity.

The processing time for applications is currently about 3-4 months.

Amendment requests are processed in order of receipt, except quota requests, which are processed as soon as possible. 

Your request will be processed more quickly

• when you submit the request electronically in the Customs Clearance Service or through message exchange, and you amend any incorrect details in the declaration yourself
• when you attach all relevant supporting documents to your request. 

You will receive the amendment decision from Customs via the service channel through which you submitted the amendment request. 

Customs will repay the import duties and taxes directly into your bank account if the conditions for repayment are met. However, the refund does not show in your bank account immediately once you receive the decision; it may take several days for the funds to be transferred.

Amendment via message exchange

Amend the incorrect detail in the declaration. Enter the name of the applicant, the type of amendment and the reason code for the amendment. Submit the corrected declaration to Customs with the amendment request message "FI413B".

On the message, provide the declarant in the original declaration, i.e. the importer, as the applicant. If the original declaration was submitted by a representative using indirect representation, provide the indirect representative that submitted the original declaration as the applicant.

Amendment in the Customs Clearance Service

• Please note: if the declaration was originally submitted via message exchange, proceed as follows: First, search for the declaration in the Customs Clearance Service using the MRN.
• Change the transaction channel to the Customs Clearance Service (via the “Switch channel” button on the “Summary and submission” page). After this, it is no longer possible to process the declaration via message exchange. See the guidance on switching the transaction channel in the user guidance of the Customs Clearance Service.  

In the Customs Clearance Service, you can submit an amendment request either via the section “Summary and submission” or via the “Contact Customs” button on the front page. Select “Amendment request” and amend the erroneous detail(s) provided in the declaration. When you have amended the erroneous detail(s), return to the page “Amendment request” and select the reason code for amendment.

Select the correct amendment type and related reason code in the amendment request

Provide one of the following as the amendment type or the reason code for amendment:

Select “OIK – Changes to declared information” when you assume that the amendment won’t affect any charges to be collected.

In that case, you must select one of the following reason codes:

• ”T-01 – Origin”
• ”T-04 – Commodity code”
• ”T-07 – Customs value”
• ”T-09 – Error relating to release from storage”, if the storage operator doesn’t release the goods due to an erroneous detail
• ”T-14 – Other”.

Example: If you have provided an incorrect commodity code that won’t affect the collection of customs duties, provide “T-04 – Commodity code” as the type or reason for amendment.
Please note: when you’re making an amendment request concerning a supplementary customs declaration after receiving a customs clearance decision, and you’re using the amendment type or reason code “OIK – Changes to declared information”, you cannot amend certain details in the supplementary declaration. Instead, the amendment must be made by providing the reasons for the amendment verbally. These include, for example mass (weight) and package details. 

Select “JAL – Post-clearance recovery”, when you assume that the amendment will lead to post-clearance recovery.

In that case, you must select one of the following reason codes:

• ”X-01 – Origin”
• ”X-02 – Quota”
• ”X-04 – Commodity code”
• ”X-07 – Customs value”
• ”X-08 – Relief from customs duty”
• ”X-09 – Error relating to release from storage”, if the storage operator doesn’t release the goods due to an erroneous detail
• ”X-14 – Other”.

Example: If you have provided a customs value that is too low, provide “X-07 – Customs value” as the type or reason for amendment.

Select the amendment type “PAL – Repayment or remission”, when you expect a repayment based on the amendment

Always enter the details of the bank account to which the repayment should be made. In that case, you must select one of the following reason codes:

• ”B-01 – Origin”
• ”B-04 – Commodity code”
• ”B-07 – Customs value”
• ”B-08 – Relief from customs duty”
• ”B-09 – Error relating to release from storage”, if the storage operator doesn’t release the goods due to an erroneous detail
• ”B-14 – Other”
• ”C-02 – Quota”, when you make a quota claim after receiving a customs clearance decision
• ”F-10 – Defective goods”, if you notice after customs clearance that the goods are defective
• ”I-11 – Error by the authority”
• ”J-03 – Equity”.

Example: If you have received a credit note because the product didn’t comply with the terms of the contract, provide “F10 – Defective goods” as the type or reason for amendment.

Always enter the details of the bank account to which the repayment should be made. If there is no account number, the repayment can be directed to the bank as a payment order in exceptional circumstances. 

• In such cases, the message declarant selects “K – Payment order/cash delivery” and enters the name of the account holder and the person’s address details in Finland.
• In the Customs Clearance Service, select “Payment order/delivery” and enter the name of the account holder and the person’s address details in Finland.

Customs will respond to the amendment request by accepting or rejecting the request. 

Attachments

To speed up the processing of your electronic amendment request, you should always upload all the relevant documents as attachments:

• If you wish to make changes to the customs value or the declarant, attach the invoice or order confirmation.
• If you’re applying for preferential treatment, attach the preferential document, such as the certificate of origin, authorised release certificate of airworthiness, etc.
• If you wish to change the commodity code, provide the goods description in Finnish, as well as an account of the qualities of the product and detailed technical information. Also attach any photographic material to ensure the correctness of the classification. 
• If the declaration concerns more than one goods item, enclose a separate breakdown of the values, such as the transaction price or transport costs, for each of the goods items, unless the costs have been sorted under their respective goods items in the request.
• If you are requesting amendment because the goods have been returned, you should attach proof of the goods being returned outside the EU as well as the correspondence with the seller regarding the complaint.
• If you authorise an agent to also receive the repayment, a specific power of attorney for withdrawal that validates the agent’s right to receive the money is required.

How to attach the documents

• In the Customs Clearance Service: upload the attachments directly to the request.
• In message exchange: send the attachment with a separate “Attachment Request” message where you refer the MRN of the customs declaration.

The supported attachment file types are pdf, jpg, tif, png, tiff and jpeg. The maximum size for one attachment is 5 MB. If you save documents as a single attachment and the total size of the attachment exceeds 5 MB, save the documents in several batches.

Your request will be processed more quickly when you save the attachments using the correct document code, e.g. “N380 – Invoice”. Check the codes here.

Submit the request for administrative review (amendment) primarily using the form for repayment or remission:  

• Customs form 643s (in Finnish)
• completion instructions for Customs form 643s (in Finnish)

Subsequent recovery is applied for with an amendment notification leading to subsequent recovery:

• Customs form 99s (in Finnish)

You can also submit a free-form request. Enclose all the information and documents needed for deciding on the matter. 

Include the following details in your request

• MRN of the decision 
• how you wish the decision to be reviewed
• the grounds for requesting a review
• your name, address, telephone number and email address
• account number (BIC and IBAN).

Enclosures

To speed of the processing of your request, you should always enclose all the relevant documents with it:

• If you wish to make changes to the customs value or the importer, enclose the invoice or order confirmation.
• If you’re applying for preferential treatment, enclose the preferential document, such as the certificate of origin, authorised release certificate of airworthiness, etc.
• If you wish to change the commodity code, provide the goods description in Finnish, as well as an account of the qualities of the product and detailed technical information. Also enclose any photographic material to ensure the correctness of the classification. 
• If the declaration concerns more than one goods item, enclose a separate breakdown of the values, such as the transaction price or transport costs, for each of the goods items. 
• If you are requesting review because the goods have been returned, you should enclose proof of the goods being returned outside the EU as well as the correspondence with the seller regarding the complaint.
• If you authorise an agent to also receive the repayment, a specific power of attorney for withdrawal that validates the agent’s right to receive the money is required.
• If you are requesting review of a decision made in the Import Declaration Service for businesses (ITU), enclose the decision in the original or as a copy.

Do not send any memory sticks, CDs or other data storage tools as enclosures. 

Sending the request and the enclosures

Send the request with enclosures by email to kirjaamo(at)tulli.fi or by post to Tulli, Tuonnin oikaisuhakemukset, PL 512, 00101 Helsinki.

Send any requests concerning imports from third countries and EU countries to Åland, or imports across the tax border between mainland Finland and Åland by email to atp.skattegrans(at)tulli.fi or by post to Mariehamns tull, PB 40, 22101 Mariehamn. 

If you are sending documents containing personal data to Customs, we recommend that you use our secure email service for security reasons.   

If the MRN issued for an entry summary declaration or for a temporary storage declaration, the house level transport document or the goods item number related to it has been provided incorrectly in the import customs declaration, you should submit an amendment request as a message or in the Customs Clearance Service as follows: 

• Correct the declaration detail
• Attach a supporting document to the request to clarify the change you’re requesting
• Leave the field for additional reasons empty. 

You can also email the details to be corrected to the Electronic Service Centre at spake.varastointi(at)tulli.fi:

• Type “Correction of import declaration details” in the subject line.
• Provide the import declaration transaction ID (customs clearance number) and goods item that the correction concerns.
• Provide the correct details of the previous document: 
  • previous document type “N355 – Entry summary declaration” or “N337 – Temporary storage declaration”
    • MRN and goods item number
    • house level transport document number, if the previous declaration is temporary storage declaration or an entry summary declaration submitted to the EU’s ICS2 system.
• The Electronic Service Centre will acknowledge the receipt of the message by email.
• Give the email message you received to the person who will collect the goods so that the corrected detail can be shown to the temporary storage operator.
• The temporary storage operator attaches the email message and the original release decision to the storage records.

If you notice an error in the customs declaration regarding the details of packages or mass (weight), you can request amendment of the declaration with an “Amendment request” message or with an “Amendment request” in the Customs Clearance Service. 

Submit the amendment request as a message or in the Customs Clearance Service as follows: 

• Correct the declaration detail.
• Attach a supporting document to the request to clarify the change(s) you’re requesting.
• Leave the field for additional reasons empty. 

Alternatively, you can submit a new customs declaration at once and request that the erroneous customs declaration be invalidated. If the number of packages or mass is to be amended, attach the document showing the correct detail to the invalidation request so that Customs can verify it.

Note that the storage operator can still release the goods, with certain exceptions, in which case a replacement customs clearance is not required. Read more about the exceptions on the page End of temporary storage.

The provisions on repayment and remission of customs duties and on post-clearance recovery of customs duties are laid down in 

• Regulation on reliefs from customs duty – Council Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009
• Customs Act 304/2016 (available in Finnish and Swedish)
• Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the Union Customs Code
• Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446
• Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447