When Dominican Customs Doubts Your Invoice: Valuation Rules and How to Respond

The most expensive moment in an import operation is often not the tariff. It is the notification that the customs authority doubts the value you declared.

Dominican customs valuation follows the WTO standard built on Article VII of the GATT 1994: goods are valued, first and preferentially, at their transaction value, the price actually paid or payable, and only when that method cannot be applied does the analysis move, in strict order, through the alternative methods of the WTO Valuation Agreement. Decree 36-11 of 2011 unified the country’s dispersed valuation rules around that framework and, importantly, regulated the procedure for reasonable doubt: when the DGA questions the authenticity or accuracy of the declared value or its supporting documents, it must notify the importer, who then has the opportunity to substantiate the price before any adjustment.

That framework now lives inside a larger structure. The General Customs Law 168-21 of 2021 incorporated valuation into the country’s comprehensive customs statute, and its regulation, Decree 755-22, governs the procedures, with the due-process guarantees of the administrative procedure law (Law 107-13) expressly in play. An importer who disagrees with an adjustment has structured routes: objections, administrative recourses and, ultimately, appeal to the courts.

One intersection deserves special attention. Imports between related companies draw scrutiny under two different lenses at once: customs valuation, which polices undervaluation to protect duty collection, and transfer pricing, which polices overvaluation to protect income tax. The same invoice must survive both, and a price built to satisfy one authority can raise flags with the other. Groups importing from affiliates should document the price once, coherently, for both fronts.

Our lawyers handle customs valuation controversies in the Dominican Republic end to end, from responding to value-doubt notifications and filing objections to litigating adjustments, along with tariff classification and free trade agreement matters. If the DGA has questioned a declaration, the response window is short; contact us early.

Do you want more information about our Dominican Republic Customs Valuation advisory services? Contact Us.

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

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