In order to meet the requirements of clients who import merchandise from the countries which do not belong to the European Union, our company offers customs clearance services in Bremerhaven, in cooperation with our German partner.


Taking benefit of the possibilities which the Poland’s ratification of the EU law gives, we offer our Clients the possibility to reduce costs of imports by elimination of the VAT rate of 7% or 22%, to the 0% VAT rate instead.


One of the requirements is to carry out the final customs clearance in Bremerhaven (in the Free Port area).


Below we present the customs clearance procedures and a list of documents necessary in fiscal brokerage:
a. The EU importer/purchaser should provide a power of attorney for customs clearance
b. The power of attorney letter should contain: company details and the EU identification number (starting with PL...)
c. The company details and the ID number will be verified by the German party.


List of information necessary for completion of customs clearance:
a. Written instruction to perform customs clearance, supplied by fax or e-mail. The instruction must contain all the information concerning the shipment/merchandise
c. All the commercial documents such invoices, the packing list, Form A and bill of lading should be submitted three days before the customs clearance.
d. The invoice should state that the company which will be customs clearing the goods is to perform fiscal brokerage.


List of activities following the final customs clearance:
a. Filing a report to the statistical office for the month in which the service was performed.
b. Supplying the original CMR to the company.
c. Reporting on behalf of the client to the tax service the “Intra-EU trade”.

Advantages of fiscal brokerage:
The import customs clearance on the border of the free port zone and direct delivery to the importer (recipient) having its seat in the EU – fiscal brokerage – offers following advantages:
a. reduction of the VAT on import to the 0% rate, both in Germany and in the destination EU country - by virtue of the reporting procedure in the relevant tax office,
b. elimination of the waiting for reimbursement of the VAT.
c. elimination of the costs associated with the production of the T1 document.
d. prompt customs clearance of the merchandise in Bremerhaven, thanks to the Atlas uniform customs system (which is subject to the software and data flow standard in the whole EU).
e. elimination of the customs clearance in the destination country.
f. reduction of the truck stop time and waiting time for the merchandise in the customs office.
g. direct possibility to make further arrangements concerning the merchandise, after it has been cleared by customs.



IMPORTANT:

Fiscal brokerage can only function if the EU-importer does not have ANY tax identification number (Steuernummer) issued in the tax service in Germany. An EU-importer which has a branch office in Germany may not in the customs clearance country involve in any trading with the merchandise / following the customs clearance the shipment must be DIRECTLY delivered to another EU country. Following the customs clearance, the merchandise may not remain in Germany. A fragment of the SIXTH DIRECTIVE OF THE COUNCIL of 17 May 1977 on harmonization of the laws of the Member Countries relating to turnover taxes – common system of value added tax: unified basis for tax assessment, Article 23 Obligations in respect of imports: As regards imported goods, Member States shall lay down detailed rules for the making of the declarations and payments. In particular, Member States may provide that the value added tax payable on importation of goods by taxable persons, or persons liable to tax, or certain categories of these two need not be paid at the time of importation, on condition that the tax is reported in a tax declaration to be submitted under Article 22 (4). Legal basis: The Act on Goods and Services Tax of 11 March 2004, Journal of Laws of 2004,  no. 54, item 535, legal status as on 7 December 2004 – Chapter 3 “Intra-community purchase of goods and intra-community delivery of goods” Art. 10 and 11 of the Act. Internet address: Click here to download the PDF file (Polish)

Executive order:

The regulation of the Minister of Finance of 27.04.2004 on implementation of certain provisions of the Tax on Goods and Services Act (published in Journal of Laws of 2004,  no. 97, item 970, no. 145, item 1541, no. 224, item 2277), Chapter 6 – Exemptions from the tax and detailed requirements of application of these exemptions. We also encourage you to use our transport services. We have extensive experience in organising shipping by land and sea. We offer the possibility of releasing containers, issuing all documents necessary for the release and transportation of containers.  Gazeta prawna - Directives »