Shanghai Customs is trialing a new online accounting system with selected fruit importers this year, in a bid to bring some transparency to China’s import tax procedures.
Importers registered with www.freshport.com will have tax payments calculated to avoid over or under-paying and potential legal problems, the system’s developers said.
Fruitease, Shanghai’s leading customs broker, developed Freshport to tackle a lack of transparency in China’s import tax system that has caused problems for fresh fruit traders as China’s government cracks down on under-invoicing.
“We developed Freshport, which is under the supervision of Shanghai Customs,” Fruitease’s Kurt Huang told Fruitnet. “Shipments registered in this system will be initially only taxed for invoice value, which is normally just the minimum guarantee price. After sales, the system will calculate the tax of the extra cargo value from the sales report input into the system. It makes sure the importer pays what he should, avoids over taxation and legal issues caused by in-sufficient taxation.”
Freshport also helps exporters monitor sales progress, and provides a useful stock management facility for importers, Huang added.
“Freshport will be implemented to selected importers by Customs according to last year’s record,” Huang told Fruitnet. “The data collected from the system will be an important reference for Customs to correct the taxation of those shipments not registered in the system, but only for charging extra tax, no refund,” he added.
