Tax authority launches multiple applications for international trade
The Estonian Tax and Customs Board (MTA) on Thursday introduced multiple new applications for simplifying international trade, the biggest of which is the information system of the Estonian Master Tariff System (EMTS).
The EMTS will provide business-owners an overview of what requirements they must meet or what kind of taxes they must pay when exporting or importing goods, the MTA said.
"For the business-owner, the biggest innovation is definitely the EMTS system, which is the first in Europe," said Urmas Koidu, head of the Department for Customs Organization at the MTA. "With the aid of this system, users can search through nearly 20,000 commodity codes to find the right one, and do this with a text search as well. In addition, the system will note whether the goods have any special requirements and what taxes apply to them."
The information system has been complemented with a number of services, including the option to download data as a file and print it out. The option for automatic exchange of data between EMTS and business systems via the X-Road data exchange platform will be further developed this year as well.
Cash can be declared electronically
Beginning Thursday, it will also be possible to declare cash electronically. If a person is planning on bringing more than €10,000 in cash over the border, a new cash declaration application will allow for the sum to be declared online or on a smartphone even before reaching the border. In order to do so, they must log into the e-Tax/e-Customs platform and select the e-customs option. "Declaration will only take a few minutes and saying your name will be enough at the border," Koidu said.
A third innovation is an update to the customs control information system with which customers will be able to receive an overview in real time of documents formalized during their control and officials will be able to see an electronic desktop of all the tasks involved in the control.
The developer of the information system was Icefire and its completion was funded in the amount of €500,000 by the European Regional Development Fund. The cash declaration application was developed by Cybernetica and funded with €64,000 from the same fund. The update to the ETT information system, which cost €1.9 million, was also developed by Cybernetica.
Editor: Aili Vahtla
Source: BNS