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Customs

IMPORT, PROCESS,
RE-EXPORT.

Reference

Goods brought in to be worked on and sent out again should not attract duty as though they were being sold locally. Inward processing is the established relief for that, and it is under-used far more often than it is unavailable.

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What to know
What the relief does
It suspends or refunds duty and import tax on goods imported for processing and subsequent re-export. Without it a contract manufacturer pays duty on materials that never enter the local market, on every consignment, forever.
Who it is actually for
Anyone importing goods to work on rather than to sell into the local market. The relief is not category-specific and not restricted to large operations — the constraint is the record-keeping rather than the size of the business.
  • Contract manufacturing for foreign brands
  • Repair and refurbishment of imported goods
  • Assembly from imported components for export
  • Processing raw materials into finished goods that leave again
It is a records regime
Authorization is granted against an obligation to account for every unit: what came in, what it became, what left and what was scrapped. The relief is straightforward; the record-keeping is the actual requirement and is what gets audited.
The related mechanisms
Bonded warehousing defers duty until goods leave storage. Drawback reclaims duty already paid on goods later exported. Free zones treat an area as outside the customs territory. Each fits a different pattern and they are frequently confused with each other.
Where to go next
CUSTOMS, WITHOUT THE SURPRISES.
Almost every customs problem is a document problem, and almost every document problem was created weeks before the goods moved.
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SELLING ACROSS A BORDER.
A cross-border sale is a domestic sale with four extra questions attached, and they are answered in a fixed order.
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LANDED COST
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