Dominican Customs Law established that the Dominican Customs Administration is responsible for preventing illegal tax acts and to apply administrative sanctions, collect tax debt, whether voluntarily or by exercising its powers of tax fiscal enforcement, being able in that aspect, to re- liquidate and collect duties and taxes that for any concept are owed to the Tax Administration within a two- year term counted from the date of the definitive payment.

Determination of the customs tax obligation

The General Customs Administration has established the system for self- determination of the customs tax obligation. Through this system, the taxpayer of the customs tax obligation (importer, consignee, customs agent or broker) has the power to set, by itself, the quantity of the customs tax obligation. The above means that the taxpayer acknowledges the imported merchandise and proceeds to its tariff classification and establishes the tax to be paid taking as reference the taxable base, proceeding with the payment of the liquidated taxes and communicating this operation to the DGA.

Notwithstanding the above, by virtue of the power of verification, recognized under Dominican Customs Law, the DGA has the power to review the assessment made by the taxpayer, based in methodologies of risk- analysis, being able to amend the assessment if it finds any discrepancy between what has been declared and what has been verified.

Recourses

In the event that the consignee is not in agreement with the liquidation, it shall, within a short term counted from the notification of the same, present the objections or claims that it deems appropriate.

In addition, Dominican Customs Law provides that if the consignee is not in agreement with the decision rendered by the Customs Administrator, it may claim to the General Director of Customs within a short term, counted from the notification of the decision. If the importer is not in agreement with the decision of the General Director of Customs, it may appeal such decision before the Tax and Administrative Claims Court.

Our experienced professionals can represent you in presenting the objections, claims and recourses against the Dominican Customs authorities and in administrative appeals before the Tax and Administrative Claims Court.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dra. Maria Arthur Rodger is a Partner leading the Tax & Private Client areas at Arthur & Castillo Law Firm and Attorneys in the Dominican Republic. She specializes in tax law and real estate advisory (Tax LLMs in Georgetown Law Center in Washington, D.C. & Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona) with more than 20 years of experience. Dra. Maria Arthur is also a CPA, Certified Bankruptcy Liquidator and Legal Interpreter.

Email: [email protected]

Disclaimer: This publication is not intended to provide legal advice or suggest a guaranteed outcome as individual situations will differ and the law may have changed since publication. For specific technical or legal advice on the information provided and related topics, please contact the author.

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