Special Valuation Branch of the customs is created as an institution specialising in investigation of transaction involving special relationship between buyer and seller or involving special circumstances which have a bearing on the assessable value.
Buyer and seller has been defined as “related” only if –
(i) they are officers or directors of one another’s businesses;
(ii) they are legally recognised partners in business;
(iii) they are employer and employee;
(iv) any person directly or indirectly owns, controls or holds five per cent or more of the outstanding voting stock or shares of both of them;
(v) one of them directly or indirectly controls the other;
(vi) both of them are directly or indirectly controlled by a third person;
(vii) together they directly or indirectly control a third person; or
(viii) they are members of the same family.
In these cases, the importer while filing the bill of entry shall make a declaration about the related party transaction along with submission of a questionnaire based upon which the Customs Officer shall examine the need of the SVB investigation. Only in the cases of significant revenue implications, the investigation shall be initiated by Customs.
In the event of the Commissioner directing the case to SVB, the proper officer shall provisionally assess the Bill of Entry and would request further submission to evaluate if there is any “circumstances surrounding the sale”.
Upon the receipt of all the information and documents, the SVB shall complete the investigation and accordingly the assessment is finalised.
Our team at Osgan assists on end to end basis from the preparation of application, representation to the SVB till the finalisation of the investigation.