The General Administration of Customs ("GAC") has recently issued the Announcement [2017] No.45, deciding to further optimize the consolidated duty collection regime. The Announcement takes effect on September 21, 2017.
According to the Announcement, all enterprises registered at the customs, excluding discredited enterprises, can adopt the consolidated duty collection mode. Enterprises adopting the consolidated taxation mode refer to consignees and consignors indicated on the import and export declaration forms. An enterprise that intends to pay duties on a consolidated basis may file an application with the department in charge of tariff collection under the customs office with direct jurisdiction at its registration place for filing its blanket guarantee, and such guarantee should be provided in a form recognized by the customs in accordance with the law, such as a letter of indemnity; beneficiaries of the letter of indemnity should include the customs office with direct jurisdiction at its registration place and other customs offices with direct jurisdiction at the place of import and export; the guarantee should cover payable customs duties and overdue fines for goods imported and exported by enterprises during the term of guarantee; and the amount of guarantee may be recycled, depending on the duties paid by enterprises. Moreover, the Announcement provides that where an enterprise selects the consolidated duty collection mode at the time of declaration, each customs declaration form should be associated with one record-filing number for the blanket guarantee. If no matters required by the customs, such as monitoring and inspecting the goods, are involved, and the guarantee quota is successfully deducted for the customs declaration form under the said consolidated duty collection mode, the customs shall release the goods concerned.