Customs & Trade

Why customs is often the second-largest tax line

Customs duty, VAT-on-importation and the various consumption and excise components frequently exceed the China corporate income tax bill for goods-heavy businesses, yet rarely receive comparable attention. The duty cost is shaped less by the headline tariff than by classification, valuation, origin and the FTA network — each of which is its own technical discipline, and each of which is increasingly cross-checked against the client's income-tax filings. We work with importers, exporters and in-house trade-compliance teams to bring structure to that exposure.

Our services

Tariff classification

We prepare binding and non-binding classification rulings for new and existing products, defend the client's position where the in-charge customs proposes a reclassification, and document the technical reasoning for the file. For companies with large SKU ranges we run classification-review projects that identify the SKUs that consistently under- or over-pay duty and propose the corrective action.

Customs valuation

We advise on the transaction-value methodology and the treatment of royalties, assists and the buyer's subsequent resale proceeds — the three areas most frequently challenged by Chinese customs. Where a ruling is desirable we prepare and submit the application and manage the dialogue with the General Administration of Customs.

Rules of origin and FTA utilisation

We assess eligibility under the China–东盟, RCEP, China–Korea, China–Australia and other preferential origin frameworks in force, prepare the supplier declarations and product-specific origin analyses, and implement the documentation required to support the preferential claim at the time of import. Where the duty saving justifies it we set up long-term origin programmes with the supply chain.

Trade compliance and health check

We benchmark the client's trade-compliance function against current Customs AEO (Authorised Economic Operator) standards and the customs credit-management grading regime, identify the gaps, and support the remediation. Where the client has been notified of a customs audit we assist with the document collection, the response strategy and the negotiation of closure.

Indirect tax on cross-border services and intangibles

Although outside the customs perimeter strictly, the China VAT treatment of imported services and the withholding-tax treatment of royalties paid to overseas licensors are frequently litigated alongside customs matters. We advise on the sourcing, the contractual structuring, and the refund mechanism under the cross-border VAT framework.