Inefficiency of the Customs Service’s decisions regarding unfulfilled customs obligations led to expiration of the statute of limitations and the write-off of about 172.5 million leis - the Chamber of Accounts.
This is stated in the audit on compliance of Customs Service’s (CS) management of revenues to the state budget in 2020-2021, conducted by the Accounts Chamber. The auditors considered planning, execution and reporting on income administered by the CS, execution of debts to the state budget, organization of customs control and determination of the customs value of goods, the procedure for placing goods in certain customs regimes, etc. Last year, the CS revenues amounted to 28.6 billion lei, accounting for 62.2% of state budget revenues and 14% of Moldova's GDP. Compared to 2020, the amount of revenue increased by 26.8% and exceeded the budgeted figure by 1.7%. Despite the implementation of plans, the auditors identified a number of significant violations and vulnerabilities. For example, due to gaps in the regulatory framework, a significant proportion of historical debts remain recoverable. The debts of taxpayers to the state budget at the end of 2021 amounted to 344 million lei, while the overdue debts formed in 1995-2014 remain - 105.7 million lei. The audit revealed the ineffectiveness of measures in relation to unfulfilled customs obligations: the Customs Service did not collect customs obligations to the state budget in full and on time, as a result of which they were written off or the limitation period for obligations amounting to 172.5 million lei expired. Another 47.7 million lei was lost to the budget in the form of penalties for failure to meet customs obligations - this is due to technical deficiencies in one of the modules of Asycuda World. The auditors pointed out the need to modernize other models of the CS information system. Also, there is a difference between CS and NBS data on foreign trade statistics. Over the past 3 years the amount of deviations (downward) in the CS statistical data on imports exceeded $3.9 billion, while for exports - $0.6 billion. This shows the risks of failure to fulfill customs obligations and revenues to the budget. In addition, the auditors pointed out the need to bring the regulatory framework for trade facilitation and administration of customs revenues in line with the RM-EU Association Agreement and the protocol of amendments to the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the WTO. In a number of cases, methods of determining the customs value by comparing it with the transaction value of identical goods were not consistently applied. // 05.09.2022 – InfoMarket
