Case C-714/20 of the Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) is of particular interest to forwarding agents.
In this decision, the ECJ stated that under Union Customs Code, an indirect customs representative is liable, jointly and severally with the importer, only for customs duties and not for import VAT.
Article 201 of the EU VAT Directive does not provide for joint and several liability either.
In order to make an indirect customs representative jointly and severally liable for import VAT payment, the national legislation should explicitly provide for it.
Source Grant Thornton
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