- Decision made on August 16, 2023, by the VII B 121/22 court addresses customs and import VAT for flight transfers
- Commercial goods must be explicitly declared and cannot pass through the green exit for duty-free items
- It is possible to challenge the notion that a customs debt automatically incurs VAT liability
- An applicant traveled from Central Asia to Switzerland carrying diamond rings and earrings for her employer
- She carried the jewelry in her backpack and chose the green exit at Frankfurt Airport, meeting her sister in the public area
- Customs officers intercepted them in the Kiss-and-Fly zone, applied customs duties and VAT, and confiscated the jewelry
- The customs office issued a tax assessment and refused to suspend its enforcement
- The Finance Court halted the enforcement of the tax assessment temporarily during the appeal process, requiring a security deposit
- The court concluded that the applicant incurred customs and VAT debts by not declaring the goods correctly
Source: bundesfinanzhof.de
Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.
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