Developed a legal position to the effect that it is not permissible to include dividends in the customs value

The lawyers of the practice provided legal support to Russian production enterprises of one of the world’s largest manufacturers of food products during audits conducted by customs authorities in relation to including dividends in the customs value. The task of our lawyers was to check documents and information the client had prepared in response to customs offices’ requests, adjust them and develop a legal position to confirm that dividends paid by the companies should not be included in the customs value of imported goods. Otherwise the amounts of additional payments would be so considerable that they would affect the margin rate of the companies.

Owing to the efforts of our lawyers, all the audits were completed without claims being raised, which is a very rare occurrence in the current practice of supervisory authorities.

That this result was attained in three audits conducted by three different customs offices with respect to three companies with different circumstances of conducting business attests to the fact that our lawyers have significant expertise in the field of dividends being included in the customs value and that they have developed such a legal position that has become convincing even for customs offices.