The Administrative Letter has been Published Regarding the Practice in which Invoice is Issued in Foreign Currency but the Payment is made in Turkish Lira

Through the administrative letter dated 30.11.2022 and No. E-85593407-156.06 published by the Customs General Directorate of the Trade Ministry regarding the import transactions in which an invoice is issued in foreign currency but the payment is made, the issues that cause hesitation in practice in terms of (i) the customs value to be declared, (ii) Value Added Tax (VAT) base and (iii) Resource Utilization Support Fund (RUSF) are explained.

Within this scope, in cases of the invoice is issued in foreign currency but the payment is made in Turkish Lira;

(i) The value that will be the basis for the customs value must be declared as the Turkish Lira equivalent of the foreign currency amount on the invoice, at the selling rate of exchange in effect on the date of the customs obligation commencement.

(ii) To avoid RUSF payment, the Turkish Lira equivalent of the price of the goods on the invoice at the payment date must be documented to the customs administrations with the Transfer Notification Form ID, indicating that the transfer was made on a date before this date, including the declaration registration date. In imports within the scope of Circular No. 2014/18, related bank letter, receipt, swift, etc. must be documented to the customs administrations to avoid RUSF payment.

In addition, within the scope of the administrative letter, it is stated that the exchange rate differences between the date of payment and the date of registration of the release for free circulation declaration do not have any importance in terms of the goods customs value or the VAT base in imports.