The Korea Customs Service’s Customs Valuation and Classification Institute announced that it held the ’42nd Customs Valuation Forum Regular Academic Seminar’ at the Seoul Main Customs Office on December 15. The Customs Valuation Forum leads joint research between the public, private, and academic sectors on customs valuation and contributes to the development of the customs valuation system by proposing improvements to related institutions.
About 100 members, including professors in international trade, customs brokers, and customs officials, attended the seminar. They discussed the rational determination of taxable prices based on the assessment of the impact of special relationships on transfer pricing transactions before the application of the cost-plus method and the customs valuation of imported goods in various types of e-commerce.
Kang Byung-ro, head of the Customs Valuation and Classification Institute, stated that transfer pricing of multinational companies is one of the major issues in customs valuation. He emphasized the need to clearly determine whether the transfer pricing in transactions between related parties is influenced by special relationships and to establish rational criteria for determining taxable prices based on costs according to Article 34 of the Customs Act.
Forum Chairman Son Seong-su held a meeting with external customs valuation experts before the seminar to listen to the difficulties and suggestions of the related industry regarding recent issues and trends in international customs valuation discussions. He explained that supporting honest reporting by companies while strengthening fair supervision and management of dishonest companies is the basic direction of the Korea Customs Service’s audit administration, highlighting the importance of establishing rational and predictable tax standards.