Annual Report 2011 The cover picture is from Sandefjord Airport Torp This is Norwegian Customs and Over 200 billion in revenues Excise Norwegian Customs & Excise’s contribution to the Treasury exceeded NOK 200 Customs and Excise is an agency billion for the first time in 2011. To be precise, NOK 204.3 billion was paid to Cus- under the Ministry of Finance. The toms & Excise in duties. agency is organised into a central directorate that is complemented by It is value added tax on imports in particular that has been behind the growth. regional administration in six cus- NOK 115 billion was paid in value added tax, an increase of NOK 10.3 billion toms regions. Customs and Excise as- from the previous year. The main reason for the increase in VAT revenues is that sesses and collects customs and excise the volume of imports into Norway is increasing. duties, value added tax on imported goods and special taxes for the state This growth comes in spite of the fact that the Norwegian krone was at a record treasury. The agency also carries out a level in 2011. Seen in isolation, a strong krone should have led to lower revenue number of enforcement tasks related from import duties, but the growth in volume has been so strong that revenue to the import and export of goods. from duties has still increased. The agency is led by the Director General of Customs and Excise, Bjørn Revenue from other duties, such as motor vehicle taxes, special taxes and cus- Røse. Customs and Excise had a toms, is also increasing. total of 1 952 employees at year-end Also part of the total picture is the fact that Customs & Excise’s financial checks 2011/2012. revealed attempted evasion of customs and excise duties amounting to NOK 1 Customs and Excise’s duties are: billion in 2011. • To ensure that customs duties are correctly declared, assessed In September, ELSÆR opened for all enterprises that are liable to pay special and paid in a timely fashion taxes. ELSÆR is an electronic system for submitting special tax returns, which • To prevent the illegal importation means that organisations can now submit their returns electronically. Experiences and exportation of goods during the first period of operation have been good and a steadily increasing number of enterprises are starting to use the system. The system also helps to streamline Customs & Excise’s own routines for processing tax returns, making it positive in many ways. The agency has faced new challenges in 2011 in border controls. The growth in the use of new, synthetic narcotic substances is a concern. Many of these substances do not appear of the health authorities’ list of narcotics, which makes it difficult for Customs & Excise and the police to stop them. It is therefore important to get new regulations in place as soon as possible that will make it easier to stop these new types of narcotics. Bjørn Røse Director General of Customs and Excise ›› 2 www.toll.no The Directorate of Customs and Excise Norwegian Customs and Excise’s administrative body is the Directorate of Customs and Excise, which has 287 employees. The Directorate develops regulations, provides support to the Customs Regions and acts as an appeal body. The Directorate of Customs and Excise is responsible for reporting to the Ministry of Finance and is in contact with other agencies we collaborate with. Key figures The strategy of the Norwegian Customs duties and other taxes (NOK million) 2011 2010 Customs and Customs duties 2 537 2 416 Excise Value added tax on imports 115 374 105 086 Motor vehicle taxes 48 029 46 948 Norwegian Customs and Excise Special taxes 38 316 37 396 has developed the following Total 204 256 191 846 strategies: Assessments – number of declarations 2011 2010 No. of import declarations in TVINN 5 028 580 4 774 306 • Efficient movements of goods No. of export declarations in TVINN 1 249 633 1 234 808 and uncomplicated border cross- Total import and export declarations 6 278 213 6 009 114 ing TVINN: Norwegian Customs and Excise’s business information system • Correct and efficient assessment Collection and arrears (NOK million) • Simple payment and efficient Amounts assessed 205 524 193 092 collection New arrears (year’s) 201 215 • Prevent the evasion of customs Accumulated arrears 397 419 and excise duties and combat Company audits economic crime Number of companies audited 1 561 1 538 • A visible protector of society and Amounts calculated in arrears (NOK million) 467 465 border authority of which duties/special taxes (NOK million) 221 253 • Contribute to ensuring that Number of serious contraventions 192 159 customs duties and regula- Seizure statistics for 2011 As per 31.12.11 As per 31.12.10 tions strike the correct balance Seized goods Seizures Quantity Seizures Quantity between fiscal, environmental Alcoholic beverages (litres) and user considerations Distilled spirits (litres) 7 336 41 973 6 990 52 230 • Targeted intelligence and sys- Distilled spirits > 60% (litres) 35 437 58 14 250 tematic risk analysis Beer (litres) 5 245 414 844 4 930 388 938 • An active collaborator nationally Wine (litres) 5 588 71 729 5 521 54 863 and internationally Other goods • Good service and communica- Meat (kg) 408 42 237 303 27 967 tion Smuggled currency (NOK) 869 56 113 359 967 58 049 557 • Use of modern technology Goods, other (approximate value) (NOK) 428 15 101 643 364 14 236 876 Pharmaceutical products, not narcotics • An attractive workplace with Doping units 603 130 034 605 106 752 highly capable employees Fauna • Good management and internal CITES species (units) 122 15 353 135 29 026 control Narcotics Amphetamines (g) 98 54 187 110 123 268 Cannabis (g) 1 180 1 636 266 999 449 039 Heroin (g) 32 11 303 63 83 000 Cocaine (g) 73 47 398 101 74 404 Tobacco products Cigarettes (units) 7 147 9 061 907 6 738 7 227 188 Tobacco products, other (kg) 2 148 2 161 1 984 1 491 Weapons Arms 8 22 11 17 Weapons, other 43 102 42 99 www.toll.no 3 ‹‹ UNCOVERED IN 2011 ELSÆR the power output component will be In April 2011, Customs & Excise started reduced. This change is part of the pro- Evasion of customs and excise duties (NOK million) a pilot project for electronic submission cess of strengthening the environmental 1200 of special tax returns in a system called profile in the import duty. ELSÆR. The system was first tested at 1000 six selected enterprises and then went Easier to lay up your boat in into full operation on 1 September. The Norway 800 special taxes regulations were amended In 2011, the rules on laying up a boat at the same time, so that in future all for the winter for foreign tourists were 600 enterprises that are liable to pay special changed. Now it is easier for boat owners 400 taxes can be required to use the system. who visit Norway to leave their boats By year end, 687 of the 1,657 registered over the winter without having to pay 200 enterprises submitted their special tax Norwegian duties. Previously, foreign returns via ELSÆR. boat owners could not leave their boat in 0 2010 2011 Norway for more than six weeks. Tax on NOx emissions Boats could only be stored in a formally In 2011, Customs & Excise investigated approved customs warehouse. The new Currency inspection (NOK million) how NOx emissions could be a tax arrangement is that boat owners can apply 60 component in calculating the nonrecur- for permission to have the boat laid up for ring import duty on motor vehicles. the winter outside customs warehouses. 50 Customs & Excise obtains data from the An application form has been prepared Norwegian Public Roads Administra- that can be downloaded from www.toll. 40 tion’s system, Autosys, to calculate this no. If needed, a further year’s storage can duty. However not all vehicles have be applied for. Since boat owners have to 30 NOx emissions recorded in Autosys. seek prior permission from Norwegian 20 These vehicles pay a stipulated rate that Customs and Excise to lay up a boat, the is based on the car’s age, among other new system still satisfies Customs and 10 things. From 2012, greater emphasis Excise’s need for overview and collection will be placed on CO2 emissions, while of any taxes and customs duties. 0 2010 2011 New rules have been introduced for laying up boats, making it easier for tourists to lay up their boats for the winter and continue their journey the next summer. Pirated goods (NOK million) 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2010 2011 ›› 4 www.toll.no The Directorate has six departments: Department of Customs, VAT and Movement of Goods; Excise Department; Enforcement Department; Collection and Accounts Department; IT Department and the Administration Department. The Director General’s staff additionally includes the Internal Audit Unit, the Communications Department, the Security Manager, International Advisers and the Secretariat. SEIZURES IN 2011 kilos Cocaine Heroin 100 80 60 Smuggled currency is often from criminal activities or unpaid tax 40 Currency smuggling Lowest unpaid duties ever Currency smuggling is a focus area for In 2011, Customs and Excise collected 20 Customs & Excise, which has specially over NOK 204 million. 99.9 per cent of the 0 trained currency sniffer dogs for the amount demanded during the year was 2010 2011 purpose. In 2011, Customs and Excise actually collected. This leaves only 0.1 per uncovered smuggling of NOK 56 million cent unpaid, which is the lowest ever.