GeriSubjecting to goods to a transaction or usage approved by customs requires having technical knowledge as well as different vast legislation knowledge such as customs and foreign trade and finance. For example, in order to pay the taxes of goods to be imported, firstly the HS Code (harmonized system code) of the goods should be known. In order to make this determination you need to have technical information about the goods. The customs duty of the goods is determined by the Import Regime Decision and the location of the goods the HS Code of which is determined in the list attached to the Decision in question should be found.
According to the quality of the goods, the import taxes, aside from the customs duty, may include different payments such as mass housing fund, value added tax, special consumption tax, anti-damping tax, additional financial liability, resource utilization support fund. Just in the calculation of the taxes to be paid in the import of goods, the information summarized above should be had. As such, members of a profession which follows up business with the capacity of indirect representation in customs offices are expected to have an occupational knowledge and occupational ethics.
The same mission undertaken by the Independent Financial Advisers and Financial Advisers and Certified Financial Advisers for the success of the tax implementations in the objective for realizing the financial discipline, is undertaken by the customs brokers for the issues of execution of foreign trade transactions according to the legislation and correct collection of taxes resulting from foreign trade. The general approaches and background information of customs brokers, who function as a bridge between firms and customs by on one hand providing consultancy services to firms that are engaged in foreign trade and by on the other hand ensuring that transactions are performed according to legislations in the customs, directly effects the success of the customs and foreign trade policies.
Areas in which the customs transactions are performed are customs bonded areas. Only authorized people can enter those areas.
On the other hand, there should be people who are authorized for the performance of the customs transactions (for example; certification of customs declaration, product sampling, examination of the goods, etc.). As you see, the performance of those transactions is named as business follow up in customs.
There are no legal limitations about business follow up in customs. People can follow up their transactions themselves and also the can perform it via a representative. The representation process can be direct representation or indirect representation.
Representative acting on behalf of and for someone else is called direct representation. In direct representation, the provisions and results of the legal transaction carried out by the authorized representative directly belongs to the principal from the moment that the transaction is carried out. Therefore, direct representation, within the organization of the legal person, has the capacity of being authorized to represent the legal person and being its employee. In direct representation, principal is responsible for tax and administrative penalty.
It is the representative acting on its own behalf however on someone else’s account. Therefore, the representative is not in the organization of the principal but the person whose authorized with power of attorney.
No. Anyone can be a direct representative however, only customs brokers can be indirect representative. However, it is possible for customs brokers to be direct representative.
Customs brokers are the members of profession who meet the requirements such as education, internship, not being guilty of certain crimes and being successful in the occupational proficiency exam, who has the capacity to perform customs transactions within the authorities given by laws and who has occupational competence.
Brokers are solely authorized to follow up business in customs authorities with the capacity of indirect representation.
In order to be a customs broker, you need to;
- Graduate from one of the faculties and collages included in the Customs Code,
- After working with a customs broker at least one year as an intern and becoming an assistant customs broker as the result of exam, work in this occupation at least two years and then succeed in customs broker exam,
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On the other hand, people who in customs authority for a certain time and with certain titles can be customs brokers with the requirement of exam or being subjected to exam.
They are the customs brokers who inspect the transactions of customs brokers on behalf of the public and are authorized by the Ministry of Trade about this matter.
According to the Customs Code; in the event that the customs brokerage is executed by forming a private legal person assistant customs brokers can be partners to the legal persons to be established by customs brokers. However, customs brokers and assistant customs brokers cannot be partners with more than one legal person.
Minimum Price Tariff which shows the minimum prices that the customs brokers will take for the works and transactions that they will perform and is determined based on calendar year is applied by approving if it is found suitable by the Ministry of Trade.
Receiving a price under the minimum price tariff forms a disciplinary action.
Pursuant the Customs Code, in the event that customs brokerage is a legal person, in the cases that the people who sign the customs declaration or other documents that are considered as declarations know or should know about the situation that causes tax loss, they, together with the legal person that they work with, are severally responsible against the customs authority. In those cases, also, the legal person, together with the person who performed the transaction is severally responsible for taxes collected by the customs authority and imposed fines.
Therefore, both customs broker and customs brokerage company have financial responsibility.
According to Misdemeanor Law, if the conditions are formed, the penalties included in the Customs Code can also be imposed to customs broker.
Non-judicial penalty, according to the quality and significance, is imposed, for the purpose of the execution of customs brokerage services as they should, to the members of the occupation who act against the dignity and honor of the customs brokerage and assistant customs brokerage occupations, do not do their duty or do it deficiently or act in a way that will betray the trust that the occupation necessitates.
Penalties of warning, reproach, temporary retention from occupational activity and dismissal are imposed to customs brokers according to the significance of the act.
Assistant customs brokers work for a customs broker and can follow up on business in customs authorities on behalf of the customs brokers. Assistant customs brokers can submit to the customs authorities the customs declaration signed by the declarant and the necessary documents for transaction and usage approved by the customs to which the goods are subjected, can be present at the openings and inspections on behalf of the customs brokers. However, assistant customs brokers; cannot independently follow up on businesses, cannot issue invoices, cannot accept notifications to be made to the owners of the goods, cannot make written or verbal requests or objections on their behalf.
