Customs warehouse

What it means

A customs warehouse is a special procedure in which non-Union goods sit under customs supervision with no duty and no import VAT paid. The payment is not waived, only deferred: the bill arrives when the goods leave the warehouse for free circulation.

It is not an ordinary shed. The warehouse needs an authorisation from the customs office, a guarantee and stock records wired into customs supervision; while the goods stay in the procedure no customs debt has arisen and the consignment can still be re-exported.

A customs warehouse differs from a call-off stock arrangement and from an excise tax warehouse. Call-off stock is a VAT tool for trade between member states in goods already inside the Union, a tax warehouse defers excise duty, and a customs warehouse serves only goods from third countries not yet released for free circulation.

How it works in practice

The authorisation is issued by the customs office of the Financial Administration after it checks the premises, the records and the reliability of the applicant. An authorised economic operator gets through that check faster and on a lower guarantee.

The procedure pays off for a distributor supplying both the Union and third countries from one site, or for goods waiting on a certificate. Duty and import VAT are then paid in instalments, matching what actually sells inside the Union.

Goods in a customs warehouse belong to the company from the transfer of ownership, not from release for free circulation. We book them into inventory at a price without duty, and duty with import VAT is added only when goods are released, so the inventory valuation moves during the year with the share of goods leaving the procedure.

What to watch out for

A shortage in the warehouse counts as removing goods from customs supervision. One missing pallet is an immediate customs debt on its value, a draw on the guarantee and, if it repeats, withdrawal of the authorisation, which is why stocktaking happens more often than once a year.

Only usual forms of handling are allowed in a customs warehouse, such as repacking, sorting or labelling. Processing or assembly that changes the nature of the goods belongs to a different procedure, and done without authorisation it creates a customs debt just like a shortage, so the warehouse internal control has to catch it.