In 2016, with the second revision of the Customs Audit Regulations, the Customs proactive disclosure system was formally established, that is, enterprises and units directly related to import and export goods that proactively report to the customs their violations of customs supervision regulations and accept customs processing shall be given a lighter or reduced administrative penalty.
The enterprise proactive disclosure system refers to a management method in which, before the customs discovers, the enterprises and units related to import and export goods self-inspect and find that their import and export activities have underpaid or missed taxes or violated customs regulations, and the customs can reduce or exempt penalties in accordance with the law.
Since 2009, my country’s customs has begun to explore and implement enterprise management methods such as “self-inspection and self-reporting” and “enterprise self-discipline”, and the proactive disclosure system has taken shape. In May 2014, the General Administration of Customs issued the “Notice of the General Administration of Customs on Carrying out Pilot Projects and Research on Enterprise Self-Discipline Management”, which laid the foundation for the subsequent introduction of the proactive disclosure system.
In 2015, the General Administration of Customs Inspection Department issued a notice to carry out the pilot and research work of active disclosure, and the active disclosure system began to be implemented as a measure of the General Administration of Customs to support the construction of the new free trade pilot zone in Guangdong, Tianjin and Fujian.
In 2016, the revised “Customs Inspection Regulations” and “Implementation Measures for the Customs Inspection Regulations” were promulgated successively, becoming the legal source of the customs active disclosure system and determining its basic connotation.
In October 2019, the General Administration of Customs issued Announcement No. 161 of 2019 “Announcement on Handling Matters Related to Active Disclosure of Tax-Related Violations”, which no longer imposes administrative penalties on tax-related violations that meet certain conditions that are actively disclosed by enterprises.
On June 30, 2022, the General Administration of Customs issued Announcement No. 54 of 2022, clarifying the relevant provisions on handling the voluntary disclosure of tax-related violations (the announcement is valid from July 1, 2022 to December 31, 2023. The General Administration of Customs Announcement No. 161 of 2019 is repealed at the same time).