Wrong tariff code: back payment, interest and penalties

When customs finds a wrong tariff code after release, it recovers the difference between the duty declared and the duty due, adds interest on arrears from the day the debt arose, and notifies the amount to the customs debtor [1]. The debtor is the declarant, and in indirect representation the importer as well; customs has three years from the declaration to do this, longer where the error was an offence under national law [1].

What happens when customs finds the error

Customs may check a declaration after release, with the documents and accounts behind it [1]. Before it notifies a higher amount, it must tell you the grounds and give you 30 days to respond [1] [2]. In Germany the Hauptzollamt then sends a new notice for the difference [3]. In the Netherlands it is an invitation to pay, the uitnodiging tot betaling or UTB [7]. You pay within the period customs sets, at most ten days, which it may extend after a post-release control, and you can appeal the decision [1].

Who is the customs debtor

The declarant is the debtor. In indirect representation, where the broker declares in its own name on your behalf, you are a debtor as well. Anyone who supplied the information for the declaration and knew, or ought reasonably to have known, that it was false also becomes a debtor [1]. Several debtors are jointly and severally liable for the full amount [1].

In the Netherlands the broker usually declares in the importer's name, so the recovery goes to the importer; the broker becomes a debtor only if it supplied data it knew or should have known to be wrong [5]. The broker's knowledge also counts against you: a Dutch appeal court attributed the expertise of the broker's declarants to the importer they represented [10]. More on the two forms in direct or indirect representation.

How far back can customs go?

Three years from the day the debt arose, for an import the day the declaration was accepted [1]. Where the debt arose from an act that could lead to criminal proceedings, national law extends this to between five and ten years. The period is suspended during an appeal and while you may respond to the grounds [1].

• Germany: ten years where duty was evaded. A merely negligent understatement, an administrative offence under section 378 of the Fiscal Code, keeps the three years [4].
• Netherlands: five years where the act was punishable [7]. For an incorrect declaration that requires intent since 1 July 2024; an honest error keeps the three years, though a fine is still possible [5].

Interest on arrears

When the debt is notified after a post-release control, customs adds interest on arrears from the day the debt arose until the day it is notified [1]. In the euro area the rate is the European Central Bank's main refinancing rate on the first day of the month in which payment fell due, plus two percentage points [1]. None is charged below EUR 10 per recovery action, and customs may waive it where it would cause serious economic or social difficulties [1].

Penalties in Germany and the Netherlands

In Germany, negligently understating duty, as the importer or as whoever handles its customs affairs, is an administrative offence with a fine of up to EUR 50,000. No fine is set if the particulars are corrected before proceedings are announced and the duty is paid within the time set. Deliberately wrong particulars are tax evasion: up to five years in prison or a fine [6].

In the Netherlands, an incorrect or incomplete declaration is an administrative offence [7]. Dutch customs' policy since July 2024: EUR 250 where the extra duty is EUR 5,150 or less, above that 10 per cent of the correction up to EUR 10,300, and in principle no fine at EUR 50 or less, EUR 250 for AEO holders [8]. A deliberately incorrect declaration carries up to six years in prison or a fine of up to EUR 110,000, or once the duty underpaid if that is higher [7] [9].

Two Dutch cases with the amounts

Gerechtshof Amsterdam, 28 March 2017, ECLI:NL:GHAMS:2017:1313. An importer declared milk permeate from Switzerland as whey powder under 0404 10 02 from 2011 to 2013, through a broker in direct representation. Customs sent invitations to pay of EUR 19,614, EUR 19,614 and EUR 3,149,915 in duty, plus import VAT, under 0404 90 21 [10]. The supplier's product sheet already said milk permeate, 0404.90. The court held that customs need not check every declaration and upheld the demands [10]. The Hoge Raad dismissed the appeal in 2018 [11].

Rechtbank Noord-Holland, 15 January 2026, ECLI:NL:RBNHO:2026:664. A broker that had declared goods for nine importers in 2013 and 2014 received an invitation to pay of EUR 555,105.87, of which EUR 8,023.87 interest, mostly for sputtering targets declared under 8486 90 90 00 [12]. Customs later accepted that no evasion was intended, so the extended period did not apply and the claim fell to EUR 410,215.90 plus EUR 6,016.50. The court annulled it: the targets are parts of the machines, and a sample over nine importers' goods could not be extrapolated [12].

A German case with the amounts

Finanzgericht Düsseldorf, 23 March 2022, 4 K 1371/20 Z. An importer declared fish oil from Chile duty free under 1516 10 90 from 2014 to 2017. After an audit the Hauptzollamt classified it under 2106 90 92 at a preferential rate of 8.9 per cent and recovered EUR 298,640.59 with EUR 2,068 interest, and in a second notice EUR 18,974.71 with EUR 351 interest [13]. The court agreed with the new code but cancelled EUR 118,109.57 and EUR 9,524.05 for declarations up to 30 April 2016: an earlier audit had passed the code, an error the importer could not reasonably detect. The interest stood [13]. On appeal, the Bundesfinanzhof referred the classification question to the Court of Justice in May 2025 [14].

How to check a declaration that was filed

1. Get every declaration filed in your name from your broker, with code, origin, preference and customs value per line.
2. Read the code's description against the goods in the HS code finder and the supplier's product sheet.
3. Search EBTI for similar goods and apply for your own BTI where the code is in doubt. It binds customs for goods declared after it takes effect [1].
4. Correct what you find. Within three years of acceptance the declarant can apply to amend a declaration after release [1]. In Germany, a correction before proceedings are announced avoids the negligence fine if the duty is paid in time [6]. Overpaid duty: see import duty refund.
5. Keep the file together for the next customs audit.

Athren works next to the broker or customs team you already have, and holds what it prepares next to the declaration that was filed, so you see where the code, the origin proof or the value differs.