Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out of a country. Traditionally, customs has been considered as the fiscal subject that charges customs duties and other taxes on import and export. In recent decades, the views on the functions of customs have considerably expanded and now covers three basic issues: taxation, security, and trade facilitation.
HM Customs and Excise was a department of the British Government formed in 1909 by the merger of HM Customs and HM Excise; its primary responsibility was the collection of customs duties, excise duties, and other indirect taxes.
The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation tax, petroleum revenue tax and stamp duty. More recently, the Inland Revenue also administered the Tax Credits schemes, whereby monies, such as Working Tax Credit (WTC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC), are paid by the government into a recipient's bank account or as part of their wages. The Inland Revenue was also responsible for the payment of child benefit.
Excise tax in the United States is an indirect tax on listed items. Excise taxes can be and are made by federal, state, and local governments and are not uniform throughout the United States. Certain goods, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, alcohol, and tobacco products, are taxed by multiple governments simultaneously. Some excise taxes are collected from the producer or retailer and not paid directly by the consumer, and as such, often remain "hidden" in the price of a product or service rather than being listed separately.
A customs officer is a law enforcement agent who enforces customs laws, on behalf of a government.
The Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department is the customs service of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The agency was established to protect Hong Kong from smuggling, ensure the collection of duties on taxable goods, detect and prevent drug trafficking and abuse, safeguard intellectual property rights, protect consumer interests, facilitate legitimate business and uphold Hong Kong's trade reputation, regulate money service operators and dealers in precious metals and stones, and combat money laundering and terrorist financing.
In Singapore, law enforcement is principally led by the Singapore Police Force (SPF), and supported by other agencies including the Singapore Prison Service, Central Narcotics Bureau, Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau, Internal Security Department, Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, and Singapore Customs. Furthermore, some law enforcement powers may be exercised by non-government entities such as auxiliary police forces and security officers.
Trade facilitation looks at how procedures and controls governing the movement of goods across national borders can be improved to reduce associated cost burdens and maximise efficiency while safeguarding legitimate regulatory objectives. Business costs may be a direct function of collecting information and submitting declarations or an indirect consequence of border checks in the form of delays and associated time penalties, forgone business opportunities and reduced competitiveness.
The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority is a law enforcement agency within the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the border control agency responsible for frontline border control operations at air, sea and rail ports in Singapore.
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) is the apex anti-smuggling intelligence, investigations and operations agency in India.
The Treasury of the Isle of Man is the finance department of the Isle of Man Government. It prepares the annual budget for the Government, and also handles taxation, customs and excise, economic affairs, information systems, internal audit, currency and the census in the Isle of Man.
The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) is a statutory board under the Ministry of Finance of the Government of Singapore in charge of tax collection.
The Royal Malaysian Customs Department ; is a government department body under the Ministry of Finance. RMCD functions as the country's main indirect tax collector, facilitating trade and enforcing laws.
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), formerly the Central Board of Excise and Customs, is a statutory body under the Department of Revenue, Government of India. It oversees the administration of indirect taxes, including customs duties, excise duties, and the Goods and Services Tax (GST). CBIC's function also extends to prevention of smuggling, illicit financial activities, and regulation and control of narcotics through its attached/subordinate offices.
Taxation in Norway is levied by the central government, the county municipality and the municipality. In 2012 the total tax revenue was 42.2% of the gross domestic product (GDP). Many direct and indirect taxes exist. The most important taxes – in terms of revenue – are VAT, income tax in the petroleum sector, employers' social security contributions and tax on "ordinary income" for persons. Most direct taxes are collected by the Norwegian Tax Administration and most indirect taxes are collected by the Norwegian Customs and Excise Authorities.
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is an agency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which operates as an independent customs service under the supervisory oversight of the Nigerian Ministry of Finance, responsible for the collection of customs revenue, facilitation of both national and international trade, anti-smuggling and border security activities.
The Directorate General of Customs and Excise is an Indonesian government agency under Ministry of Finance that serves the community in the field of customs and excise. The Directorate General of Customs and Excise has the duty to organize the formulation and implementation of policies in the field of supervision, law enforcement, service and optimization of state revenue in the field of customs and excise in accordance with the provisions of legislation. The directorate also carry out some basic tasks of the Ministry of Finance in the field of customs and excise, in accordance with policies established by the Minister and securing government policies relating to the traffic of goods entering or leaving the Customs Area and the collection of import duties and excise and other state levies based on legislation apply.
The Bureau of Customs is a Filipino government agency that is responsible for the collecting of customs duties, excise duties, and other indirect taxes in the Philippines. It is part of the Philippines Department of Finance.
The Indian Revenue Service , often abbreviated to IRS or IRS , now called IRS(C&IT) is a part of central civil service of the Government of India. It functions under the Department of Revenue of the Ministry of Finance and is under the administrative direction of the Revenue Secretary and the ministerial command of the Minister of Finance. The IRS is primarily responsible for collecting and administering indirect taxes accruing to the Government of India. It is one of the largest civil service amongst the organised civil services in the Indian government and serves the nation through discharging sovereign functions of collection of revenue for development, security and governance.
