Peru - Customs Regulations Peru - Customs Regulations
Peruvian Customs or Superintendencia Nacional de Aduanas y de Administración Tributaria (SUNAT) clearance’s “valuation service” must be considered for imports whose customs value (CIF) exceeds three (03) Tax Reference Units (UIT – Unidad Impositiva Tributaria). The value valid for 2017 for one UIT is 4,050 Soles or USD 1,216 assuming an exchange rate of 3.33 Peruvian Soles to the U.S. dollar. SUNAT’s clearance charge is 2.35% of one UIT, however in the practice, SUNAT applies a USD 34 flat valuation fee. Items imported under the United States - Peru Trade Promotion Agreement –PTPA, are exempt from this fee. As stated above in the “Import Requirements and Documentation” section, SUNAT’s priority is revenue generation rather than trade facilitation. Despite having signed the WTO customs valuation procedure, SUNAT uses a referential price verification system (Sistema de Verificación de Precios, SIVEP). In this system, SUNAT has a database for price consultation of goods from each country, and from different suppliers. This allows for comparision of declared values in commercial invoices and making adjustments to identical or similar merchandise prices that are less expensive than the average. SUNAT accepts discounts, as long as any discount appears on the bill and is unincorporated from the normal sales value, but the reason for the discount should be indicated for approval. Often, SUNAT requests that the importer provide a Manufacturer’s Price List. This document must be certified by the Peruvian consulate in the country of purchase. This price list should not be addressed specifically to the importer, but rather include general information. This is very important in order to be accepted by SUNAT.
This system has resulted in several complaints from local importers claiming that SUNAT is over assessing values. A recent example involved a U.S. exporter complaint regarding rejected invoices by SUNAT. Peruvian Customs was not accepting its invoices, instead valuing imports using price lists that did not consider distributor discounts. For SUNAT to accept the invoice value, it must be accompanied by a price list, and the discount must be described and detailed in the invoice. Payment terms must also be detailed. The customs chapter of the PTPA addresses the referential pricing issue and is consistent with Peru’s WTO obligations.
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This system has resulted in several complaints from local importers claiming that SUNAT is over assessing values. A recent example involved a U.S. exporter complaint regarding rejected invoices by SUNAT. Peruvian Customs was not accepting its invoices, instead valuing imports using price lists that did not consider distributor discounts. For SUNAT to accept the invoice value, it must be accompanied by a price list, and the discount must be described and detailed in the invoice. Payment terms must also be detailed. The customs chapter of the PTPA addresses the referential pricing issue and is consistent with Peru’s WTO obligations.