Customs declarations: imports and the VAT return

Interactive tutorial

Follow the course step by step in the interactive player.

Lessons

1. 1Find the Customs Declarations screen and read itThis lesson is for the tax manager and the accountant. When goods are imported into the United Arab Emirates, the customs declaration shows the value of the goods, the customs duty and the import value added tax, or VAT. ComplianceOS keeps these declarations inside Tax Intelligence, because they fill boxes 6 and 7 of the VAT return. You will find the screen, read its three totals and see what it looks like before anything has been recorded.5 min
2. 2Add a customs declaration by hand, field by fieldThis lesson is for the accountant. You will record one customs declaration by typing it in, and learn what each of the eight fields of the Add customs declaration form is for: the declaration number, the declaration date, the cost, insurance and freight value, or CIF, the customs duty, the excise tax paid at import, the import value added tax, or VAT, the supplier and the description of the goods.7 min
3. 3Upload a statement of imports from a fileThis lesson is for the accountant. Instead of typing every declaration, you will upload a statement of the quarter's imports as a comma separated values file, or CSV. You will read the message that says how many declarations were brought in and lists every row that was skipped, with the reason, and see that uploading the same statement again never counts an import twice.7 min
4. 4Correct a declaration and record a box 7 adjustmentThis lesson is for the accountant. A recorded declaration sometimes has to change: customs issues an amended declaration, or you find that import value added tax, or VAT, was reported wrongly in an earlier return. You will open the edit form with the pencil, amend the figures of one declaration, and record an adjustment with its reason on another. Adjustments are what fill box 7 of the VAT return.7 min
5. 5Duplicate numbers, and deleting a declarationThis lesson is for the accountant. You will see what happens when a declaration number is entered a second time, record a declaration that turns out to belong to another company of the group, and remove it with the bin. The app asks you to confirm a deletion and records it in the audit log, but it cannot be undone, so the lesson also shows how to check before you confirm.6 min
6. 6See the imports in the VAT return: boxes 6, 7 and 10This lesson is for the tax manager. You will compute the value added tax return, or VAT return, for July to September 2026 and follow the customs declarations into it. Box 6 carries the imported goods and their VAT, box 7 the adjustment, and box 10 gives the same tax back as recoverable. You will also see where the return explains its own arithmetic, and what to compare with the tax authority's portal before filing.8 min
7. 7What a read-only role sees: the auditorThis lesson is for auditors and anyone else with a read-only role, and for the tax team who support them. The auditor can open Customs Declarations and read every figure, but cannot change anything. You will see the note that says so, and that the buttons to add, upload, edit and delete are simply not shown to a read-only person.4 min
8. 8What you see without access to tax recordsThis lesson is for everyone outside the finance and tax team, and for the people who support them. A member of staff with no tax role cannot see customs declarations at all. You will see what the left menu looks like without tax access, what the page says if a colleague sends you a link to it, and who it tells you to ask.3 min
9. 9How this connects: the Compliance Calendar and the Evidence VaultThis lesson is for the compliance officer, and for tax staff who want to know where their customs work shows up elsewhere. Computing the value added tax return, or VAT return, with the imports in it left two traces in other parts of ComplianceOS: a filing deadline in the Compliance Calendar, and a sealed record in the Evidence Vault. You will find both, and then place the customs statement itself in the Evidence Vault under the Customs source type, because the Customs Declarations screen has nowhere to attach a document.8 min
10. 10How this connects: screening import suppliers against sanctions listsThis lesson is for the officer responsible for anti-money laundering, or AML, and for the tax team who record imports. Supplier names typed or uploaded on the Customs Declarations screen are not sent to sanctions screening. You will confirm that the Screening list has no check for them, and then screen each overseas supplier by hand, so that there is a dated record that the company checked who it imports from.7 min

How this connects to the rest of ComplianceOS

• VAT return

  Customs declarations dated inside the return period fill box 6 with the value of imported goods, which is CIF plus duty plus any excise paid at import, and with the import VAT. Adjustments fill box 7, and the same tax is recovered in box 10. A note in the computed return names the number of declarations counted.

• Compliance Calendar

  Computing the VAT return that holds the imports creates its filing deadline, 28 days after the period ends. The deadline's detail shows the net VAT of the return, and View Source opens Tax Intelligence.

• Evidence Vault

  Computing the return writes a sealed record of the computation, with a seven year tax retention. The Customs Declarations screen cannot hold attachments, so the customs statement itself is uploaded to the vault by hand, with the source type Customs, which sets the retention to Tax, seven years, by itself.

• Sanctions screening

  Supplier names on customs declarations are not screened automatically. The AML officer screens each import supplier by hand on the Screening tab of AML/CFT, which leaves a dated check for each name.

• Access control

  Viewing the declarations needs the permission to view tax records, adding and editing need the permission to edit them, and deleting needs the permission to delete them. A read-only role sees the list with a note that it can only view, and the buttons to add, upload, edit and delete are not shown. A person without tax access is told which permission is missing and which access administrators can grant it.