The Customs Administration is studying ways to speed up customs tax refunds for people whose online cross-border purchases turn out to be scams, it said yesterday.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) and Saidha Tahovecahe raised awareness of the issue at a news conference in Taipei following multiple complaints from online shoppers.
“A shopper spent about NT$3,000 buying a dress and was charged customs tax of NT$300. However, to receive the tax refund, they had to go through complicated procedures and pay a public notary fee of NT$6,000. A lot of people simply give up,” Tahovecahe said.
Photo: CNA
The Customs Act (關稅法) states that consumers can only apply for a customs tax refund before picking up the goods.
However, most people do not find out they have received a fake product until they open their package, Chung said.
“They cannot apply for a tax refund or apply for tax exemptions for the return or exchange of goods based on the act,” Chung said. “In addition to the financial loss sustained from buying fake products, they must endure a second financial loss... This is also incongruent with the directions stated in the government’s anti-fraud policy, which aims to protect consumers’ interests.”
The Customs Administration should design more consumer-friendly customs tax refund procedures, Chung said, adding that consumers should not be asked to pay high public notary fees before they can request a refund.
Tahovecahe said that the number of orders for imported express delivery goods in one month was as high as 5.65 million thanks to Singles’ Day last year.
Consumers could easily receive fake products over this period, she said
“The administration already has EZ Way — a very easy-to-use app,” she said, suggesting it be upgraded to include a function allowing consumers to apply for a customs tax refund.
Lin Chia-yin (林佳吟), a section chief at the Customs Administration, said the agency would study whether Article 17 of the act could be applied to facilitate customs tax refunds.
The article stipulates that duty-payers or exporters may submit required supporting documents when filing an application with the Customs Administration to correct imported or exported items in the customs declarations.
“We would consider whether consumers could submit police reports as supporting documents when filing refunds,” she said.
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