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Import Optimization
Recovering Lost Margins

Brokers clear goods; we engineer cost reductions. Over 65% of importers overpay Basic Customs Duty due to defensive classification and untracked exemptions. We audit your supply chain to legally minimize landed costs and recover historical overpayments.

Ideal for: Heavy Machinery Importers, Electronics Manufacturers, Pharma Formulators, and FMCG Distributors (₹5Cr+ Imports).

15-40%
Average Duty Reduction
₹50L-3Cr
Typical Annual Recovery
800+
Exemptions Tracked Daily

The Hidden Cost of Speed

To ensure shipments aren't delayed at the port, clearing agents routinely accept the highest possible tariff rates and ignore complex exemption notifications. This "safe" approach silently bleeds your working capital.

01

Classification Errors

The 'Other' Trap: When an item is complex, it is frequently dumped into the residual 'Others' category (e.g., Chapter 84/85), which attracts peak customs duty rates of 15% to 20%.

The Margin Killer:

A misclassification of just 5% on ₹20 Crores of annual imports equals ₹1 Crore of pure profit surrendered to the government every single year.

02

Missed Exemptions

Dynamic Notifications: The Ministry of Finance constantly issues end-use conditional exemptions. Brokers handling 50 clients a day cannot track which specific notification applies strictly to your manufacturing process.

The Consequence:

You pay the standard 10% rate, completely unaware that a Ministry of IT or Health notification legally entitled your specific component to a 0% concessional rate.

03

Valuation Add-Backs

Rule 10 Ignorance: Importers frequently fail to declare 'assists'—royalties, license fees, foreign engineering costs, or molds provided free to the overseas manufacturer.

The Audit Shock:

During a Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) audit 3 years later, these omissions are classified as 'suppression of facts', resulting in massive differential duty demands plus 100% penalties.

Landed Cost Optimization Protocol

Product Tear-Downs

We dissect your top 10 imported SKUs using 'Principal Function' rules under the General Rules of Interpretation (GRI). We map materials against WCO explanatory notes to locate lower-duty specific headings.

Output: Custom duty matrix mapped to your part numbers.

Advance Rulings

We don't rely on port-level officer discretion. For high-value imports, we draft technical submissions to the Authority for Advance Rulings, securing a binding legal order on the lower classification rate.

Output: Absolute certainty and immunity from future demands.

Exemption Matching

Algorithmic review of your inputs against 800+ active Customs, FTA, and CEPA notifications. We draft the exact declarations your broker must insert into the Bill of Entry to trigger end-use exemptions.

Output: Zero-duty or concessional duty rate application.

Retrospective Refunds

Once we establish a lower rate or exemption, we execute Section 27 refund claims for all excess duty paid over the trailing 12 months, navigating 'unjust enrichment' proofs with CA certification.

Output: Direct cash recovery into your operating accounts.
Case Study

The Principal Function Argument

Client Profile

  • • National Telecom Infrastructure Provider
  • • Importing advanced 'Smart' networking routers
  • • Annual import volume: ₹40 Crores
  • • Margins severely compressed by high landed costs

The Broker's Error

  • • Because the routers had basic display screens, the broker classified them as "Monitors/Displays" (Heading 8528).
  • • This defensive misclassification triggered a 20% Basic Customs Duty rate.
  • • The company had been paying this inflated rate silently for two years.

Our Execution

  • • Deployed Section Note 3: proved the "Principal Function" was data transmission, not visual display.
  • • Submitted engineering briefs forcing reclassification to Heading 8517 (Telecom Apparatus).
  • • Successfully mapped the new heading to the ITA-1 agreement, securing a 0% BCD exemption.
₹3.6 Cr
Annual Duty Saved
20% to 0%
BCD Rate Reduction
₹7.2 Cr
Retrospective Refund Filed
100%
Legal Defensibility

"For years, we assumed customs duty was just a fixed sunk cost dictated by our clearing agents. Sami Tax conducted a clinical tear-down of our product catalogue, fought the adjudicating authorities on technical grounds, and dropped our import duty on core equipment from 20% down to absolute zero."

— Head of Procurement, National Telecom Provider

Questions & Answers

Optimization Technicalities

Understanding classification logic, refund limitations, and SVB valuation triggers.

Brokers prioritize clearance speed over basis point optimization. They often select the most "common" or explicitly broad HSN code, which almost always carries the highest Basic Customs Duty (BCD) to avoid departmental inquiries.

The Symptoms of Overpayment:

  • • Your product functions in multiple ways, but is classified under a generic "Other" category (usually 15-20% BCD).
  • • You import "parts" but they are classified as the fully assembled "machine".
  • • Your competitors are selling at margins that seem mathematically impossible based on your landed costs.

We conduct forensic classification reviews, tearing down product specs against Section Notes and WCO Explanatory Notes to find legally defensible lower-duty lines.

Yes, Section 27 of the Customs Act allows for refunds of duty paid in excess, subject to a strict 1-year limitation period.

However, claiming a refund requires overcoming two massive hurdles:

  • Re-assessment barrier: You cannot simply file a refund; you must first successfully challenge and modify the original Bill of Entry through an appellate process (the ITC vs CCE Supreme Court ruling).
  • Unjust Enrichment: You must mathematically prove (via Chartered Accountant certification) that you absorbed the excess duty cost and did NOT pass it on to your customers in the final sale price.

Absolutely. This is the primary trigger for Special Valuation Branch (SVB) investigations.

Under Customs Valuation Rule 10(1)(b), the value of any tools, dies, molds, or engineering/design work supplied by the buyer free of charge or at a reduced cost MUST be added back to the transaction value of the imported goods.

The Danger:

If customs discovers during a post-clearance audit that these "free" assists were omitted from the Bill of Entry, they will demand the differential duty plus a mandatory penalty up to 100% of the duty suppressed.

Stop Overpaying the Exchequer

Send us your top 5 imported items and their current HSN codes. We will tell you within 48 hours if you are leaving money on the table.