Small changes to import declarations in September 2023 – the recapitulative statement on trade with Åland will be renewed

Small changes will be made to import declarations in September 2023. The greatest change is that the recapitulative statement used by customers who have an Åland tax border number will be renewed on 2 September 2023.

The recapitulative statement of a customer with an Åland tax border number will be renewed

A tax border number is only used in trade between Åland and mainland Finland, when the company sells goods to private individuals or to some other trader, who is not registered for VAT. In that case, the company submits the import declaration as a recapitulative statement on behalf of the private individual. Currently, the recapitulative statement is submitted in the Åland Tax Border Declaration Service (ALA). The Service is terminated when the new recapitulative statement is introduced in the Customs Clearance Service.

The recapitulative statement can also be lodged as a message in the future. Customs has published phase 3.0 of message descriptions for import declarations on its website. Check the declaration details under “Data contents”. Select the tab “FI415B” and filter as data content “National tax border declaration – recapitulative statement”.

The creator of the recapitulative statement no longer needs to print out and send the tax border declaration forms separately to Mariehamn Customs. Based on the declaration, the declarant receives a customs decision from Customs as well as a separate invoice for the payment of VAT. As a new feature, the declarant must provide the company’s trader office number received from Customs in the declaration details. In the declaration, there is no need to separate the importers receiving the goods. Instead, a reference number or other detail is entered in the additional information of the declaration, based on which more details on the consignees can be found in the records, if needed. For example, a client list can be used as reference.

Changes to how EORI numbers are checked and provided 

Customs increases checks relating to EORI numbers. All import declarations must contain as identification number the EORI number of the importer, i.e. the declarant and possible representative, if they are companies. If the identification number does not have EORI status, the import declaration must be rejected. 

If the importer company has an EORI number granted in another EU country and a Finnish business ID acquired for value added taxation, the importer’s foreign EORI number is entered in the importer’s, i.e. the declarant’s details in the future. The Finnish business ID used in the value added taxation is provided as additional fiscal information. 

Codes for the previous document type are changing

The previous document type is provided with a four-digit code instead of the three-digit codes currently in use. 

Add automation to the processing of certificates connected to import restrictions 

Customs automates the checks and the processing of import declarations for goods that require an import certificate, if one of the following is entered as additional document in the import declaration: 

• additional document C085 (phytosanitary CHED-PP)
• additional document C678 (feed certificate CHED-D)
• additional document C640 (health certificate for animals CHED-A) or additional document N853 (health certificate for products with animal origin CHED-P)
• additional document C644 (certificate of inspection for organic products COI)
• additional document L100 (certificate for ozone-depleting substances ODS)
• additional document C057, C079 or C082 (FGAS greenhouse gas certificate)

The only change in the import declaration itself is that the item number to be indicated in the additional information of the additional document will be mandatory in the future, if the additional document is issued for a CHED certificate or for an organic product COI certificate. The item number is the sequence number given to the goods listed in the certificate.

The declarations for centralised customs clearance will not be deployed until 2025

Finland has requested exemption from the EU, so that declaration messages required for the centralised import clearance between the Member States can be deployed later than planned. The number of companies interested in centralised import clearance has been low so far. Furthermore, implementing the changes already in 2023, would only have enabled the companies a partial use of the new centralised clearance, since several other EU Member States have notified that they cannot introduce the new declaration model this year. 

According to the new timetable, the aim is to introduce the new centralised import clearance in 2025.

The bills of discharge for special procedures and discharge notifications are renewed in 2024

In Finland, the plan is also to renew the bill of discharge, which is provided in the customs procedures for active processing and end-use, as well as the discharge notification, which is provided for the temporary admissions procedure. The plan is to renew the bills of discharge for special procedures and discharge notifications in 2024.

Additional information: ucc(at)tulli.fi