Services

The connection to our HUB in Wolfwil near Härkingen can be reached from all over Europe with night-express. NSE can declare the consignments as an authorized consignee with its own customs clearance department until 10.00 p.m. at the aforementioned HUB. The shipments will be delivered by 07.00 a.m. anywhere in Switzerland.

A consignment to a recipient may consist of returnable containers or packaging units that are to be reused. If you commission us to process your returns, we will pick these items up when we make our next delivery. In addition, we will also ensure that the returned items get back to you quickly and safely.

The only requirement is that the items are clearly marked as returns. We are also happy to accept environmentally friendly reusable packaging when we deliver goods to the recipient.

If you have special requirements of your logistics that go beyond transportation, we are ready to work with you as a reliable partner. Should overnight delivery be insufficient or it takes too long for the relevant parts to become available, we can set up an “emergency warehouse”. A special team will be on call 24 hours a day to ensure that the goods are dispatched to the recipient as soon as the order is received.

Customs forms

In international shipping, additional shipping documents are required that we make available for you to download here.

Proforma Invoice

for shipment of merchandise subject to customs duties to all countries outside the EU

VideoDeclaration

confirming that you are not sending any pornographic material to the USA or Islamic countries. The video declaration also serves as a pro forma invoice.

Types of customs clearancey

Depending on which country you are shipping to, NSE offers the following types of customs clearance:

Import customs clearance with low value (less than EUR 22.00) and the “normal” import customs clearance
Import customs clearance (direct imports) is used when the shipping route is directly from the sending country to the destination country.

EU customs clearance
Consignments sent from Switzerland go through customs clearance when they reach the EU’s external border and before they are allowed into the EU.

EU customs clearance is a process that always involves three countries:
1. Export country
2. Country of entry
3. Import country

– No sales tax ID number, with fiscal representation
We provide you with the sales tax ID number you need for EU customs clearance.

– No sales tax ID number, with own fiscal representation
Your own fiscal representative supplies the sales tax ID number you need for EU customs clearance and takes care of your tax and Intrastat reporting obligations.

– With own sales tax ID number
If you are turning over/exporting 30 or more shipments a month, we recommend that you apply for your own sales tax ID number.

Benefits
• VAT-free intra-EU delivery
• Import sales tax (16-25% depending on destination country) without the need for cash payments, advance commissions or interest
• Become more competitive in the EU market because your shipments can be processed without additional administrative hassle.

– EU customs clearance puts Swiss suppliers on the same footing as EU firms.

EU customs clearance with fiscal representation
EU customs clearance with fiscal representation facilitates tax-free intra-community shipping of your exports from Switzerland to the European Union. This has many advantages:

• puts you on the same footing as EU suppliers
• faster delivery thanks to immediate customs clearance
• improved liquidity when dealing with high-value goods
• no loss of interest through advance EUST (import sales tax) payments
• avoid high processing costs in other countries, while also reducing waiting times
• all reporting obligations to the German government are handled directly by the fiscal representative

NSE fiscal representation
As a customer of NSE you can benefit from our services as a fiscal representative. So that we can act as a legitimate representatives of you, you need to give us your power of attorney. Do you want to know more about that?

When can’t you use fiscal representation?
According to §22a of Germany’s Sales Tax Law, a foreign business can only be represented by a fiscal representative if it is only exporting tax-exempt items to Germany and if it doesn’t want to claim any German deductible input tax. If the Swiss supplier is registered for sales tax purposes in Germany, therefore, or if it is exporting e.g. goods or services under contract to Germany (which are taxable, but for which the recipient rather than the supplier has to pay the tax), fiscal representation cannot be used. In this case, the supplier itself must take care of declaration and logging obligations relating to EU customs clearance in Germany.

The above disclosures and services may vary. For current disclosures, please contact our customs clearance department.

Collective customs clearance

Requirements
– it exists more than one recipient in a destination country.
– there are more than 1 recipient in the European Union.
– it can all be cleared to one importer.

As an owner of a sales tax ID number, you are authorised to carry out collective customs clearance throughout the EU.

Types of customs clearance
– Import customs clearance, Germany
Importer/payer in Germany, recipient of goods (destination country) in the European Union
– EU customs clearance
The recipient of the goods is in the same country as the payer (invoice country = destination country)

Delivery conditions
On our part we use and recommend DDP. For other incoterms please contact our customs clearance department.

Export invoice
In the case of collective customs clearance with a German invoice address, the German VAT number and sales tax ID number have to be noted. In the case of collective customs clearance without a German invoice address, the address and Swiss VAT number must be included in the invoice header. Instead of the invoice address please include the following information: all recipients in Germany/EU countries, German VAT number, German sales tax ID number and German customs number.

Important!
Please attach to the export invoice always a complete list of all recipient addresses.

Sales tax ID number

The sales tax ID number (abbreviated to USt-IdNr. in Germany and UID in Austria) is a unique EU wide code for entities that have to pay sales tax.

Within the European Union it is used for settlement of intra-community trade in goods and service for sales tax purposes. It is therefore required from each entrepreneur within the area of the European Union to participate on the trade in goods and service between the Member States.

It will not be charged with VAT at the export to another EU country (tax-free intra-community delivery) if the commercial customer in the recipient country makes a sales taxation with the tax rate. The prerequisite of this condition is assumed if the recipient indicates an Ust-IdNo. Through this country principle the taxation will be shifted in the recipient country by way of the intra-community acquisition.

Within the European single market it is used by fiscal authorities to account for sales tax.
Both a VAT number and a sales tax ID number are required to process EU customs clearances, triangular and series transactions in the EU. Your company has to be registered for sales tax with the Constance Office of Finance. Submit a written application for the issue of a sales tax ID number to the following address:

Finanzamt Konstanz
Sigismundstrasse 19
DE-78405 Konstanz

Tel. 0049 7531 289-0
Fax 0049 7531 289-312
E-Mail FA09.Ust-Ausland@t-online.de

Once you have a sales tax ID number, please consider the following in mind when producing your export papers:
In addition to the normal commercial information, please note the following indication for EU customs clearance:

“Tax-free intra-community shipment as per §4 no. 1b and § 6a of the Sales Tax Law”.

The invoice must be drawn up without VAT if each party involved is entitled to sales tax relief – i.e. if they each have a sales tax ID number.

EORI numbers for imports to Germany and EU customs clearance

The customs clearance registration obligation for commercial operators came into force in November 2009. Companies with original German customs number received a written request to apply for an EORI (Economic Operators Registration and Identification System) identification number.

This means that, since 01.01.2010, all commercial operators engaging in activities covered by customs law have had to have an EORI number:

• declarants
• representatives of declarants
• receivers of imports
• deliverers/exporters when delivering/exporting
• subcontractors as understood in Art. 789 ZK-DVO (Customs Code Executive Order)
• principals

This regulation also applies to Swiss operators with customs obligations, but only if they are active as declarants. This does not apply to Swiss deliverers who are not engage in any other activities covered by customs law.
Customs application without the necessary EORI number will not be processed. The declarant (or relevant commercial operator) must submit a copy of the application to the customs office; and when it has received the EORI number, the declarant must also submit the latter without any further request from the customs office. The goods cannot be discharged by customs until then! You can use the following link to read the details and to request an EORI number application electronically (Form 0870):

EORI numbers for imports to Germany and EU customs clearance

The customs clearance registration obligation for commercial operators came into force in November 2009. Companies with original German customs number received a written request to apply for an EORI (Economic Operators Registration and Identification System) identification number.

This means that, since 01.01.2010, all commercial operators engaging in activities covered by customs law have had to have an EORI number:

• declarants
• representatives of declarants
• receivers of imports
• deliverers/exporters when delivering/exporting
• subcontractors as understood in Art. 789 ZK-DVO (Customs Code Executive Order)
• principals

This regulation also applies to Swiss operators with customs obligations, but only if they are active as declarants. This does not apply to Swiss deliverers who are not engage in any other activities covered by customs law.
Customs application without the necessary EORI number will not be processed. The declarant (or relevant commercial operator) must submit a copy of the application to the customs office; and when it has received the EORI number, the declarant must also submit the latter without any further request from the customs office. The goods cannot be discharged by customs until then! You can use the following link to read the details and to request an EORI number application electronically (Form 0870):

http://www.zoll.de/DE/Fachthemen/Zoelle/EORI-Nummer/Beantragung-einer-EORI-Nummer/beantragung-einer-eori-nummer_node.html

What is an EU customs clearance?
Under an EU customs clearance is understood the import customs clearance in the EU country of entry (transit country) with subsequent tax-exempt intra-Community delivery in another EU country (country of destination). In the EU country of entry no import turnover tax is levied in these cases on imports. With the EU customs clearance exporters receive from third countries (eg Switzerland) “EU status”. This means that they can benefit from the advantages of intra-European trade in your exports to the EU, as well as each of their EU competitors.

The following requirements must be met for the application of EU customs clearance:
– The exporter has in the first country of entry of the EU itself a tax identification number (USt-IdNr.), i.e. he is in the EU country of entry registered for VAT purposes or he uses the VAT ID number of a fiscal representative in the EU country of entry
– The customer owns and uses compared with the exporter a VAT ID number., which was granted to him by another EU country
– The exporter is liable to pay the import tax in the EU country of entry, i.e. he acts as an importer.

What sales tax consequences arise from EU customs clearance?
The sales-tax consequences of an EU customs clearance will be clarified by the following example.

Example:
The Swiss supplier A is registered in Germany for VAT purposes and has a German VAT ID number (alternative: A can be represented in Germany by a tax representative C). A supplies goods from Switzerland via Germany to the Austrian customer B. B has an Austrian VAT ID No. Due to the agreed delivery term DDP, customs and taxes [A assumes the costs for the transport and import duties to destination (Austria). The risk of loss or damage to the goods also takes A to destination.], A imports the goods in his own name in Germany.

a) Transport of goods from Switzerland to Germany
It follows a customs clearance of goods in Germany (release for duty and tax free circulation). Since the goods do not remain in Germany, no import turnover tax is levied.

b) Delivery of goods from Germany to Austria
Value-added tax point of view the delivery of A to B is carried out in Germany because A is debtor for the import VAT (importer). The delivery is exempt from tax as intra-Community delivery if the tax exemption can be demonstrated in book and receipt form. The delivery has A resp. C (with claims of the fiscal representative C) to declare in his German advance VAT return and in the summary message. In addition, the delivery of the Intrastat declaration (dispatch) is indicated if the reporting threshold, currently € 500’000 (in Germany) per year is exceeded. In the statement A has to specify its VAT ID number and the VAT number of the client. Furthermore, in the invoice it should be pointed to the tax-exempt intra-Community delivery.

c) Income is taxed by B in Austria
B has taxable intra-Community acquisitions in Austria for the delivery of A. The transfer tax can B assert as input tax as part of its deduction rate. B reports the intra-Community acquisition in his Austrian advance VAT return and by exceeding the reporting threshold in the Austrian Intrastat declaration (input).

Advantages and disadvantages of EU customs clearance compared to the conventional import into the EU

Advantages:
If a European company imports goods from a third country (eg Switzerland) in the conventional way, and reports these goods for “free circulation” in the EU, import VAT has to be paid for the goods. In large amounts, this can lead to liquidity problems. In the EU customs clearance no import turnover tax is levied. According to information of forwarding agents customs clearance fees are minimized as costly customs clearance in the destination country are avoided by the EU customs clearance. As a result of the subsequent payment of the national transfer tax (through the taxation of intra-Community acquisition in the country of destination), the customer has a cash advantage.

Disadvantages:
If a company imports goods from the third country (eg Switzerland) as part of the EU customs clearance, it must demonstrate the tax exemption of intra-Community delivery in book and receipt form. If the tax authorities, for example, discover that the recorded VAT ID No. of the customer was not valid (accounting evidence), the import turnover tax must be recovered from the customs office. The importer (= supplier) therefore bears the risk of proving the exemption. This also includes the documentary proof that the goods from one EU country has been transported to another EU country (eg Germany).

Another problem is that often the EU customs clearance is registered, even though the statutory prerequisites for this are not available. In most cases, it fails on the condition that after the import an intra-Community delivery take place.

If the conditions of application are not given as EU customs clearance, the import has to be made in the “normal” process in which the Customs collects import duties.

Cases where an EU customs clearance is not permitted (not finally):

Outward processing:
The Swiss supplier A is registered in Germany and has a German VAT ID number. He sents an item for repair from Switzerland to the subcontractor B in Austria. A imports the subject in Germany. There is no intra-Community delivery after the import. A delivery requires that the receiver gains the economic power of disposal to the article. This is not the case here. The object remains in the power of disposal of A. It is only left for B for repair. Imports in Germany is subject to German import sales tax.

Experience has shown that in such cases is often made an EU customs clearance using the VAT ID number of the outward processor. This is not allowed.

Factory Contractual Delivery:
The Swiss supplier A is registered in Germany and has a German VAT ID number. He delivers a fully operational equipment at B in Austria. In the scope of delivery is Included the installation and commissioning. A imports the parts of the equipment in Germany and delivers it to Austria. There is no intra-Community delivery after the import. Object of delivery is the operational equipment and not the individual system components. The delivery is taxable in Austria, since there the equipment will be built. The import of the equipment parts in Germany is subject to German import sales tax.

Experience has shown that in such cases is often made an EU customs clearance using the VAT ID number of the customer. This is not allowed.

For whom is an EU customs clearance of particular interest?
The EU customs clearance is particularly of interest for Swiss companies who export goods to many EU countries. The VAT registration (or representation by a tax representative) shall be carried out in an EU country that shares border with Switzerland. The VAT registration should not be made in the main exporting country (eg Germany), but in another neighboring country, i.e. in France, Austria or Italy, because with the VAT registration in the main exporting country, the EU customs clearance is not possible.

Source: OSEC, Swiss Vat AG, Markus Fuchs