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Customs and Excise Act 2018

Entry and exit of goods, persons, and craft - Assessment, payment, and recovery of duty - Liability for duty in certain cases

138: Liability for duty on goods wrongfully removed or missing

You could also call this:

"Paying duty on goods that are taken or go missing from a special storage area"

Illustration for Customs and Excise Act 2018

If you are in charge of a special area where goods are kept, you are responsible for paying duty on goods that are taken out wrongly or are missing. This means you have to pay duty as if you had imported the goods under section 75 or made them and entered them under section 81. You have to pay duty on goods that are taken out of the special area without permission or are not accounted for.

If goods are taken out of the special area without permission, or you cannot show what happened to them, you have to pay duty as if they were being used in New Zealand. The person in charge of Customs can ask you to pay any duty that they think you owe. They can ask the owner of the goods, the person who imported them, or the person in charge of the special area to pay.

You owe the government the duty you have to pay, and this is a debt. If you do not agree with a decision made by the person in charge of Customs, you can ask for the decision to be reviewed or appeal to a special authority. You have to do this within 20 working days of being told about the decision.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM7039406.

Topics:
Money and consumer rights > TaxesBusiness > Industry rules
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137: Goods temporarily imported for manufacturing, etc, or

"Bringing goods into New Zealand to work on them, then sending them back overseas"

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139: Liability of owners of craft for duty on goods unlawfully landed, or

"Owners of boats must pay tax on goods brought into New Zealand illegally on their boat"

Part 3Entry and exit of goods, persons, and craft
Assessment, payment, and recovery of duty: Liability for duty in certain cases

138Liability for duty on goods wrongfully removed or missing

  1. The licensee of a Customs-controlled area is liable for duty payable on goods that the chief executive is satisfied have been wrongfully removed, or are missing, from that Customs-controlled area as if the goods had been, as the case may be,—

  2. imported by the licensee and entered under section 75:
    1. manufactured by the licensee and entered under section 81.

      1. Duty becomes due and payable on dutiable goods as if the goods were removed for home consumption, or entry has been made and passed for home consumption, if the goods—

      2. are removed from a Customs-controlled area without the authority of Customs (if that authority was required for the removal); or
        1. are not produced to Customs by the licensee and not accounted for as having been lawfully delivered from the Customs-controlled area.

          1. The chief executive may, by notice in writing, demand payment, of any sum that the chief executive reasonably suspects is owing under this section, from—

          2. the owner or importer of the goods; or
            1. the licensee of a Customs-controlled area.

              1. Duty payable under this section constitutes a debt due to the Crown by—

              2. the licensee of a Customs-controlled area:
                1. the importer of the goods:
                  1. the owner of the goods.

                    1. The liability under subsection (4) is joint and several.

                    2. A person who is liable for the payment of the duty and who is dissatisfied with a decision of the chief executive under this section may, within 20 working days after the date on which notice of the decision is given, do 1 (but not both) of the following:

                    3. apply for an administrative review of the decision:
                      1. appeal to a Customs Appeal Authority against the decision.

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