Transit guarantees
Transit requires providing Customs with a guarantee that corresponds to the amount of customs duties and taxes due for the goods. The guarantee covers the general customs duty, any excise duties and other taxes due, and the value added tax (VAT). You must calculate the amount of the guarantee yourself and provide it in the transit declaration.
You can provide the guarantee as
- an individual guarantee for one transit operation
- a comprehensive guarantee, which is a long-term guarantee that covers several transit operations.
A comprehensive guarantee should be obtained if you transit goods often, because it facilitates the starting of a transit procedure. You need permission from Customs to use a comprehensive guarantee.
An individual guarantee covers one transit operation. The transit can be started as soon as the payment shows in Customs’ system.
How to provide an individual guarantee
Provide the individual guarantee in the Customs Clearance Service when filling in the transit declaration. The service estimates the amount to be covered automatically based on the commodity code information and the quantity you have provided. The estimate is calculated according to the highest possible customs duty rate for the goods category. You can use this estimate as a guide when you enter the amount to be covered by the guarantee.
How to lodge an individual guarantee in the Customs Clearance Service
In exceptional cases, you can also provide the individual guarantee at a customs office that offers customer service.
Validity of the individual guarantee
The individual transit guarantee is valid in the EU countries or common transit countries where it is needed.
Repayment of the individual guarantee
Customs will repay the individual guarantee when the transit procedure has ended and the guarantee is no longer needed. The individual guarantee will be repaid to the bank account you provided.
If the customer does not have an IBAN account number, the guarantee can be repaid in cash at the customs office of destination. An individual guarantee will only be returned in cash to the person who signed the pledge agreement, to someone with the right to sign for the company or to a person mentioned separately as the recipient in the power of attorney.
Other things to note
- At the customs office, you can also act on behalf of another person based on a power of attorney.
- Customs issues the guarantee with a reference number (GRN), which should be entered in the transit declaration.
- If you wish to establish the guarantee in advance in the Customs Clearance Service, fill in the transit declaration and save it as a draft. Take note of the GRN and the PIN and pay the guarantee at a customs office.
The comprehensive guarantee is long-term and covers several transits.
To use this guarantee, you need a comprehensive guarantee authorisation. It should be obtained if you transit goods often, because it simplifies the starting of a transit procedure. You also need a comprehensive guarantee if you wish to act as an authorised consignor.
A bank guarantee must be provided for the comprehensive guarantee for transit, unless the company is exempted from providing a guarantee.
Comprehensive guarantee in the customs declaration
When a comprehensive guarantee is used for the transit, the GRN of the comprehensive guarantee and the related access code must be provided in the transit declaration. When the transit operation starts, Customs’ guarantee system reserves the amount of taxes due for the transit goods from the guarantee provided by the company. The reserved guarantee is released for subsequent use when the transited goods are received at the destination and an arrival notification has been submitted for them to Customs’ system.
Keep track of the comprehensive guarantee
When you have obtained the comprehensive guarantee authorisation, you must keep track of the guarantee to ensure that the amount it covers is sufficient.
- Keep your own records.
- If you are a message declarant, you can use guarantee query messages in support of your records. You must have a registration for message exchange that also includes the guarantee query message.
Validity of the comprehensive guarantee
The comprehensive guarantee must be valid in all EU countries. In addition, you can add common transit countries.
How to calculate the amount of guarantee
You can calculate the amount of transit guarantee by using the average prices for import or the Fintaric calculation tool. If the company has a comprehensive guarantee, you can use both also when you monitor the adequacy of the guarantee, i.e. the reference amount.
You can check the average prices of imported products under various commodity codes on the page Average prices for import. By checking the table for the average price of similar goods, you can calculate the guarantee needed.
You can also use the Fintaric calculation tool when estimating the amount of taxes and customs duties.
- On the start page of Fintaric, select “Calculation” and then “Transit” as the procedure.
- Select the current date as the date and provide the commodity code.
- As country, select the country of origin of the goods. The tool always provides the estimates according to the highest possible customs duty rate applicable to the country and goods category based on current information.
- You can leave the customs value blank and only provide the net weight in kilograms, in which case the tool will use Customs’ average price table for the goods value.
- Finally, select the VAT rate, and the tool will estimate the amount of customs duty and taxes according to the average price. For goods subject to excise duty, you must also provide the required excise duty codes (e.g. excise duty on alcoholic beverages, beverage containers and soft drinks) and the additional information required by these.
How to provide the guarantee in the transit declaration
The instructions concern both the individual guarantee and the comprehensive guarantee.
The transit declaration has a field where you fill in the amount of customs duties and taxes covered by the guarantee. The amount to be covered means the amount of reserved guarantee calculated by the holder of the procedure, i.e. the amount of customs duties and taxes on the goods to be transited. The amount entered must correspond to the actual customs duty and tax liabilities for the goods to be transited, or to the amount of customs duty or taxes calculated based on the value of similar goods.
When the transit declaration is submitted in the Customs Clearance Service, the service estimates the amount to be covered automatically based on the commodity code information and the quantity you have provided. The estimate is calculated according to the highest possible customs duty rate for the goods category. You can use this estimate as a guide, when you enter the amount to be covered.
You can enter 10 000 euros as the amount to be covered if all the following conditions are met:
- The amount to be covered cannot be estimated based on the value of the goods, because the value information is not available and estimating the amount to be covered is not possible with a reasonable work effort.
- The consignment to be transited arrived in air traffic.
- The consignment is transited between two airports or within one airport.
If the transit principal applies this simplified estimate of the amount to be covered, the additional information code ‘FILEN’ must be entered in the transit declaration. The customer’s own management system for transport data must also show the additional information code.