Analysis
Customs savings
Success story
Deloitte provided customs advisory services to a Japanese manufacturing company supplying automotive parts. The total refund of customs duties received by the client reached more than EUR 5,000,000.
Customs duties are taxes like any other taxes, and so come with similar risks and also similar savings opportunities. For our Japanese client we performed a free-of-charge review of customs processes to eliminate potential risks and identify potential savings. During the review we identified a potential to reclassify their components to different tariff code and suspend the existing customs duty on these components. As a result of these changes to the client’s importation process, we were able to achieve significant savings on customs duties. The project was quite complex and took almost two years to complete. During this period, the company received into their account from the customs authorities a total refund of customs duties of EUR 5,000,000. Moreover, the new implemented scheme is also applicable for future periods, which leads to further significant savings to be achieved in the coming years.
Deloitte’s role and value added moments
- We identified a huge savings opportunity in an area to which no one had paid attention before;
- The project was handled by Deloitte for two years, which ensured the integrity of the project despite personnel changes in the company
- The project involved personal negotiations with customs authorities in several EU countries in local languages and in line with local administrative rules
- Deloitte even assisted several times with the transfer of the refunded money from distant jurisdictions
- Deloitte provided and performed a tailor-made solution that involved several offices from the global Deloitte network and generated significant financial deliverables for the client