VAT taxable amount for imported goods

The customs value of goods is the basis not only for the calculation of customs duty, but also for VAT. It forms part of the taxable amount for imported goods, to which additional amounts established under Article 15(15) of the VAT Law are added. 

When determining the VAT taxable amount, it is important to support it with documents, such as goods transport contracts and/or waybills and/or freight forwarding documents, VAT invoices, invoices, receipts, insurance policies or other goods insurance documents, etc.

When calculating the VAT taxable amount for imported goods, the following amounts are added to the customs value of those goods, where not already included:

1. Customs duties, taxes and other charges:

• customs duties, taxes and other charges established outside the EU or outside the LR that have been paid or are payable on the imported goods
• import duties established by the EU for those goods
• taxes and other charges established by the EU or LR, except VAT itself

2. Transport costs to the first place of destination in the territory of the country and related costs:

• costs related to the carriage of the goods, including supplementary transport services, and insurance costs
• commissions paid or payable for agency services
• the value of packaging of the goods

The first place of destination in the territory of the country shall be the place of delivery of the goods indicated in the transport documents, or, where no such place is indicated, the first place of entry of the goods into the territory of the LR.

3. Transport costs within the EU territory:

• the value of services referred to in point 2, related to the carriage of goods from the first place of destination to another place of destination in the EU territory, where that place is known at the time of VAT taxation

Services, including carriage of goods and supplementary transport services, which are directly related to the importation of goods into the EU territory and whose taxable amount is included in the VAT taxable amount for imported goods pursuant to Article 15(15) of the VAT Law, are subject to a 0 per cent VAT rate.

Costs of a guarantee provided for goods under the transit procedure

Guarantee costs related to a transit procedure applied to goods, under which the possible tax liability to customs is secured pursuant to Article 89 UCC, are not considered to be costs related to the insurance of goods under Article 15(15) of the VAT Law. Therefore, these costs are not included in the VAT taxable amount for imported goods.

Costs of a guarantee provided when importing goods

Costs of a guarantee intended to secure the payment of import duties and other mandatory payments payable when importing goods are not considered to be costs related to the insurance of goods under Article 15(15) of the VAT Law. Accordingly, these costs are not included in the VAT taxable amount for imported goods.

Where no separate invoice is issued for the storage of goods in temporary storage facilities and the costs of these services are included in a combined invoice for transport services without being itemised, stating a single combined amount for transport and temporary storage services, such a combined amount shall be considered to be transport service costs.

In that case, all or part of the transport costs for the imported goods may be included in the customs value of the goods (Article 71(1)(e) UCC), while the remaining part of the costs incurred after the entry of the goods into the EU territory (Article 72(a) UCC) shall not be included in the customs value, but shall be added to the VAT taxable amount (Article 15(15)(2) and (3) of the VAT Law).

Where a combined amount is stated on an invoice for transport and storage of goods in temporary storage facilities, in order to exclude from the customs value of the goods part of the costs pursuant to Article 72(a) UCC, those costs must be separated on the basis of objective and quantifiable data.

Where the declarant submits to customs calculations and supporting commercial documents (e.g. contracts with service rates, warehouse documents confirming the storage period of the goods, or other documents related to the imported goods), this may help to separate costs incurred after the entry of the goods into the EU territory.

Where such data is not available, costs may be apportioned proportionally to distances covered outside and within the EU territory (Article 72(a) UCC).

Transport services and storage services in temporary storage facilities in such cases are considered to be directly related to the importation of goods and may be subject to a 0 per cent VAT rate (Article 45(3) of the VAT Law).

The customs value of imported goods does not include construction, assembly, fitting, maintenance or technical assistance costs related to work or services in the EU territory in respect of imported goods, such as industrial equipment, machinery or devices (Article 72(b) UCC).

Costs of installing imported equipment in the LR (e.g. travel costs of an engineer to the LR, remuneration for equipment installation works) are not included in the customs value or the VAT taxable amount of the imported equipment.

Demurrage costs incurred during the carriage of goods shall be considered to form part of transport costs, as they are paid by the person paying for the carriage of the goods.

When calculating the VAT taxable amount for imported goods, costs related to demurrage incurred during the carriage of goods must also be added to the customs value of the goods, where all the specified costs are related to the delivery of goods to the first place of destination in Lithuania (where not already included in the customs value of those goods) (Article 15(15)(2) of the VAT Law).

Where, at the time of submission of the customs declaration, demurrage costs incurred after delivery to the first place of destination are related to carriage to another place of destination in the EU territory, they must be included in the VAT taxable amount for imported goods. Costs incurred after delivery to another place of destination in the EU territory shall not be added to the VAT taxable amount (Article 15(15)(3) of the VAT Law).

Where the value of transport costs, including demurrage, changes after the importation of goods, the VAT taxable amount must be adjusted by applying to customs with a request to fulfil the obligation related to the completion of the relevant customs procedure for the goods (Article 173 UCC).

Taxes and other charges established by the EU or LR (except VAT itself) must be added when calculating the VAT taxable amount; therefore, payments made to customs for inspections of goods or for carrying out tests of goods, etc. must be additionally included in the VAT taxable amount where those charges and payments are related to the importation of goods (Article 15(15)(1) of the VAT Law).

However, in cases where inspection of goods (testing, examination, analysis, etc.) is necessary to ensure their compliance with established quality or technical requirements, and the inspection costs are included together with the price of the goods on the invoice issued to the buyer, such inspection costs shall be considered to form part of the customs value of the imported goods (Article 70 UCC, judgment of the Court of Justice of the EU in case C-15/99). In that case, the costs of goods inspection (testing) services are included in the customs value of the goods and therefore shall not be additionally added to the VAT taxable amount under Article 15(15) of the VAT Law.

The costs of customs representative services are included in the VAT taxable amount (Article 15(15)(2) of the VAT Law).

Where such services are directly related to the imported goods and their value is included in the VAT taxable amount, a 0 per cent VAT rate applies to them (Article 45(3) of the VAT Law).

When declaring the VAT taxable amount in the customs declaration, costs related to the VAT taxable amount that are added to the customs value are indicated in the smart Customs Declaration Processing System (iMDAS) under data element 14 04 000 000 with the code CA. 

In the customs declaration, they are submitted at the level of the goods item or goods type and distributed proportionally by the weight of each goods item. Where the same information applies to all goods types declared under a single declaration, it is submitted only at the goods item level.

More detailed interpretation of the provisions of the VAT Law and practical examples, including Article 15(15) and Article 45(3) of the VAT Law, are provided in the consolidated commentary on the VAT Law.

Although this commentary is not a legal act, it presents the position of the competent state authorities on the application of the VAT Law. The commentary is used as an auxiliary tool for interpreting legal rules in practice.

• Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (UCC): http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2013/952/2022-12-12
• Council Directive 2006/112/EC on the common system of value added tax: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2006/112/oj
• Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Value Added Tax: https://www.e-tar.lt/portal/lt/legalAct/TAR.ED68997709F5/asr
• Order No 1BE-256 of the Customs Department on the approval of the rules for completing import declarations submitted by electronic data processing means or in writing: https://www.e-tar.lt/portal/lt/legalAct/804f4d80ea7811ee9f5b8ffa077f9188/asr