The total cost of customs clearance services, regardless of the category of imported or exported cargo, has a significant impact on the degree of efficiency of foreign economic activity. In some cases, a question may even arise regarding the profitability of a certain type of business activity. In this regard, any additional costs, which include the cost of customs broker services, must be assessed in advance, that is, before the final decision is made.
What components make up the total remuneration of a specialist in this profile? Similar to other types of activities, a special tariff system is provided in this area. An approximate list of costs for the customs clearance procedure using the services of a customs broker includes the following components:
– The cost of completing the declaration, consisting of the cost of filling out the document itself and several attachments to it. If one batch includes a large number of product items with different foreign trade codes, then there will be a need to incur additional costs;
– Preliminary or final calculation of customs payments, fees and duties, and if such a need arises, their inclusion in the budget using the contractor’s customs card;
– The cost of placing cargo at a customs terminal or warehousing. The amount is determined taking into account tariffs for warehousing, the time of storage of cargo at customs and the commission of a customs broker;
– The cost of a customs broker’s service for preparing and filling out shipping documentation after the cargo leaves the territory of the customs authority, provided that such a need arises.
The total amount of expenses can only be determined after completion of the customs clearance procedure, since there is a possibility that a number of difficulties will arise during the process. The websites of a number of companies providing customs clearance services contain tariffs that can help you roughly navigate the cost of customs brokerage services. As an example, the cost of preparing a customs declaration by its specialists may vary for the main code, taking into account the type of document. The tariff for each subsequent code is.
At the same time, a large number of operators in this field of activity do not even provide preliminary prices for customs brokerage services. Preferring to discuss them directly with the customer on an individual basis. This is partly the right approach, since after a dialogue with the client, preliminary analysis and summing up, the potential client receives an invoice. Which includes costs for all customs procedures.
Attention: “gray” broker
Promising offers for fast and hassle-free customs clearance for low fees. attract a large number of inexperienced participants in foreign economic activity.
Often behind strangely low tariffs lies the lack of a license for the contractor to provide customs and brokerage services or his tendency to use not entirely legal customs clearance schemes.
Often, shell companies resort to semi-legal methods of work, which do not need to bear the costs of obtaining permits.
When making a meaningful decision to address this category of performers. You need to be prepared for additional unplanned expenses in the form of substantial fines. The need to pay them will arise if the peculiarities of the approach of such “creative” brokers are revealed. Therefore, the main criterion that must be followed when choosing. There must be comparability of financial costs and time spent on processing a shipment of a certain cargo.
