Customs inspections resume from 1 May with some exceptions ...

From 1 May 2024 until the end of martial law, documentary checks on customs matters, including those related to the timeliness, accuracy, completeness of the calculation and payment of customs duties, shall be conducted by customs authorities with specific details.

Customs inspections will resume on 1 May, with some exceptions. Thus, the Law No. 3613-ІХ on Amendments to the Customs Code (Bill No. 9456) adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on 20 March 2024 has been submitted to the President for signature.

It stipulates that temporarily, from 1 May 2024 until the termination or cancellation of martial law, documentary checks of compliance with the requirements of the legislation on customs affairs, including with regard to timeliness, reliability, completeness of calculation and payment of customs payments, shall be carried out by customs authorities, taking into account the following specific details.

Acts (statements) on the results of documentary audits, cross-checks, objections to the audit acts, tax notifications-decisions, the procedure for delivery of which is not completed by 24 February 2022, shall be sent (delivered) until 1 July 2024.

From 1 May 2024, documentary checks of compliance with the requirements of the legislation of Ukraine on customs affairs shall be carried out in the presence of safe conditions for their conduct, namely safe:

• access, admission to financial and accounting documents, reports, agreements (contracts), declarations, calculations, other documents that may be related to operations on import (transfer) of goods into the customs territory of Ukraine or the territory of the free customs zone or export (transfer) of goods outside the customs territory of Ukraine or the territory of the free customs zone;
• access, admission to production, storage, trade and other premises of the inspected enterprise - in case of documentary on-site inspections;
• sampling and/or sampling of goods - in case of documentary on-site inspections;
• inventory of fixed assets, inventories of commodity-material values, which were or are under customs control or used by the audited enterprise together with goods that were placed under the relevant customs regime - in case of documentary on-site inspections.

Documentary audits, which were started (resumed), but cannot be completed due to the lack of safe conditions for their performance, shall be stopped upon the decision of the head of the customs authority or the person fulfilling his/her duties until safe conditions are restored and/or obstacles are removed.

Such a decision may be made, including upon a motivated application of the taxpayer.

For the period until the restoration of safe conditions stops the period of the audit with the subsequent resumption of the audit for the unused period.

Enterprises may be included in quarterly plans-schedules of documentary planned field audits of the customs authority in 2024:

• importing into the customs territory of Ukraine excisable goods, goods similar to those in respect of which special types of duties are applied;
• exporting from the customs territory of Ukraine goods on which the law establishes export duty;
• Who have issued customs declarations with exemption from customs payments, use of privileges, payment by instalments of customs payments;
• With respect to which the customs authority has information about declaration of components of the customs value, defined by the Customs Code, not in full;
• with regard to which the customs authority has information about violation of the rules of classification of goods in accordance with the UCT FEA;
• for which the customs authority has information about the false declaration of the country of origin, which affects the receipt of customs payments to the budget.

Quarterly plans-schedules of documentary planned field audits of the customs authority shall be published on the official website of the State Customs Service before the 15th day of the last month of the quarter preceding the quarter in which such documentary planned field audits will be conducted.

Temporarily, from 1 May 2024, there is a moratorium on conducting documentary audits on customs affairs with respect to taxpayers:

• on their importation into the customs territory of Ukraine of goods recognized as humanitarian aid during martial law;

• the location of which, as of the date of the beginning of the temporary occupation, is the territory of Ukraine temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation - until the last day of the month:
• temporary occupation is the territory of Ukraine temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation - until the last day of the month in which the temporary occupation was completed, and if the taxpayer changes its location to another territory of Ukraine - until the date of state registration of the change of location;
• If the taxpayer's location is the territory where active hostilities are taking place - until the last day of the month in which the hostilities were completed, and in case the taxpayer changes its location to another territory of Ukraine - until the date of state registration of the change of location;
• the territory of possible hostilities is the territory of possible hostilities - until the last day of the month in which the possibility of hostilities was terminated, and in case the taxpayer changes its location to another territory of Ukraine - until the date of state registration of the change of location.