The situation
Non-EU goods stored under customs warehousing and sold before release
A Rotterdam logistics company runs a customs warehouse for an electronics importer from Taiwan. Goods arrive by sea, sit in bond for weeks and are often sold to European distributors while still in the warehouse. Some leave for Belgium under transit and are released in Antwerp. The importer has asked the warehouse’s finance team where and when import VAT will fall.
The customs side is familiar to the operations team. The VAT side sits next to it and follows its own rules: whether a sale in bond is taxed at all, when import VAT becomes due, which country levies it and what the taxable amount includes. The hours go on joining the two.
What the research has to settle
The rules behind the answer
- No import VAT while in the procedure
- Non-Union goods placed under customs warehousing are not yet imported for VAT purposes. Import VAT arises when the goods leave the procedure and are released for free circulation, in the member state where that happens.
- Sales in bond can be exempt
- The VAT Directive lets member states exempt supplies of goods while they remain under customs warehousing. The research confirms how the Netherlands and Belgium apply that option and what records the exemption needs.
- Release elsewhere moves the import VAT
- Goods moved from Rotterdam to Antwerp under transit and released there are imported in Belgium. Belgian import VAT then applies, and the Belgian rules on who pays it and how decide the cash-flow effect.
- The taxable amount is more than the price
- Import VAT is charged on the customs value plus duties and other taxes due on import, and incidental costs such as transport to the first place of destination in the importing member state.
How it runs in azta
From the question to the document
The question, as you would type it
Non-EU electronics stored in a Dutch customs warehouse, sold to EU distributors while in bond, some moved under transit to Antwerp and released there. When and where is import VAT due, on what value, and is the sale in bond subject to Dutch VAT?
You start with
Non-EU goods stored under customs warehousing and sold before release
- 01
Describe the flows
Give the goods, the warehouse, the sales in bond and where release happens. azta searches the VAT Directive, the Union Customs Code and the Dutch and Belgian VAT law.
Cited research· Free - 02
Compare the Dutch and Belgian provisions
Open the cited provisions in the reader in the original language and compare how each country applies the warehousing options.
Atlas statute reader - 03
Draft the note to the importer
Ask for a note by stage: in bond, sold in bond, released. Edit it in Canvas.
Canvas · Ask azta· Pro - 04
Send it as Word
Export to Word for the account manager to send, with the citations kept on file.
Word export· Pro You send
A note for the importer on when and where import VAT arises and on what value
What you get
A note for the importer on when and where import VAT arises and on what value
Customer note · draft
Your goods in our Rotterdam warehouse: when import VAT is due
While in the warehouse. Your goods are under customs warehousing and are not yet imported for VAT purposes. No import VAT is due while they remain in the procedure.
Sales while in bond. A sale to a distributor while the goods remain in the warehouse can be exempt under the Dutch rules for goods under customs warehousing, provided the conditions and records are met. Please tell us before each sale so the stock records show the new owner.
On release. Import VAT becomes due where the goods are released for free circulation: in the Netherlands for goods released here, and in Belgium for goods moved to Antwerp under transit and released there. The taxable amount includes the customs value, duties and transport to the first destination in that country.
Outcomes on your numbers
What azta is worth on this task
Pro pays for itself after
18 minutes a month
At €90 an hour, that is all the time Pro (€27 a month) has to take off your desk to cover its price.
Example figures. Replace them with your own.
- Hours back a year
- 32
- Capacity at your rate
- €2,916
- More import VAT notes a quarter
- 2.3
- Return on Pro
- 9×
- Research
- Drafting
- Your review
A scenario you set, not a promise. The hours that come back go to another client, or deeper into this one.
Want these numbers on your team’s real workload?
Book a demoSources azta searches here
- EUR-Lex · Curia
- wetten.overheid.nl
- Belastingdienst
- Justel
What stays with you
- The customs declarations and the warehouse stock records.
- Customs authorisations and customs guidance, which azta does not hold for every country.
- The advice to the importer, and its sign-off.
Frequently asked questions
- Does azta cover customs duty as well?
- It researches the Union Customs Code and the EU and national rules it holds. Tariff classification and the duty calculation stay with your customs team.
- What about VAT warehousing outside customs procedures?
- Ask about it separately. Member states may also operate VAT warehousing arrangements for certain goods, on their own conditions, and azta researches the national rules.
- Can it set the two countries side by side?
- Yes. Ask for a comparison of the Dutch and Belgian rules and each row cites the national provision.
