Custom

Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out of a country. Traditionally, customs has been considered as the fiscal subject that charges customs duties (i.e. tariffs) and other taxes on import and export. In recent decades, the views on the functions of customs have considerably expanded and now covers three basic issues: taxation, security, and trade facilitation.

Each country has its own laws and regulations for the import and export of goods into and out of a country, enforced by their respective customs authorities; the import/export of some goods may be restricted or forbidden entirely. A wide range of penalties are faced by those who break these laws. The traditional function of customs has been the assessment and collection of customs duties, which is a tariff or tax on the importation or, at times, exportation of goods. Commercial goods not yet cleared through customs are held in a customs area, often called a bonded store, until processed. Authorized ports are usually recognized customs areas.

Privatization of customs

Customs is part of one of the three basic functions of a government, namely: administration; maintenance of law, order, and justice; and collection of revenue. However, in a bid to mitigate corruption, many countries have partly privatised their customs. This has occurred by way of contracting pre-shipment inspection agencies, which examine the cargo and verify the declared value before importation occurs. The country’s customs is obliged to accept the agency’s report for the purpose of assessing duties and taxes at the port of entry. An excise, or excise tax, is any duty on manufactured goods that is levied at the moment of manufacture rather than at sale. Excises are often associated with customs duties, which are levied on pre-existing goods when they cross a designated border in a specific direction; customs are levied on goods that become taxable items at the border, while excise is levied on goods that came into existence inland.

Excise

An excise is considered an indirect tax, meaning that the producer or seller who pays the levy to the government is expected to try to recover their loss by raising the price paid by the eventual buyer of the goods. Excises are typically imposed in addition to an indirect tax such as a sales tax or value-added tax (VAT). Typically, an excise is distinguished from a sales tax or VAT in three ways:

      ·  an excise is typically a per unit tax, costing a specific amount for a volume or unit of the item purchased, whereas a sales tax or value-added tax is an ad valorem tax and proportional to the price of the goods,

      ·  an excise typically applies to a narrow range of products, and

      ·  an excise is typically heavier, accounting for a higher fraction of the retail price of the targeted products.

Environmentally harmful products

In recent years, the creation or increase of excise taxes on certain existing consumer products whose production leads to environmental damage is being considered. The declaration of a climate emergency by international organisations such as the UN and the OECD warns that the current production model is and will have negative effects on life on the planet due to the current high level of pollution. This is why one way to internalise the negative externality derived from productive activity is the inclusion of special taxes on certain products that are the main cause. These include energy, hydrocarbons and certain means of transport. The aim is to reduce their consumption while at the same time generating revenue to mitigate the negative effects of their consumption. They are therefore excise taxes that serve purposes other than simply to raise revenue.

In India, almost all products are subject to excise duty, provided the following four conditions are fulfilled:

      ·  There should be a manufacture

      ·  The manufacture was in India (excluding special economic zone)

      ·  The manufacture should result in goods

     · The goods thus manufactured must be excisable (means the goods must be specified in central excise tariff act, 1985) In India, the Government has produced an automatic centralised system for paying excise. With this, manufacturers can easily pay their excise online on every 5th of the following month through GAR-7.