China Guomen Times: Service Efficiency Tolerant with Temperature - Proactively Disclosing New Policies to Further Release Beneficial Enterprise Dividends

Proactive disclosure of policies is a "law-abiding and fault-tolerant" mechanism, which is conducive to promoting enterprises' compliance and self-discipline management, and improving the efficiency of customs supervision. The core content is that enterprises that voluntarily report their illegal behavior to the customs can be given lighter, mitigated, or even no punishment depending on the situation. In October 2025, the General Administration of Customs issued the "Announcement on Dealing with Matters Related to Proactive Disclosure of Violations" (General Administration of Customs Announcement No. 194 of 2025), which was officially implemented, further releasing the benefits for enterprises and effectively promoting the high-quality development of foreign trade.
Fast processing of remote application procedures
We have found that we recently submitted an incorrect order and therefore underpaid taxes. Is there any remedy now? "Ms. Chen, a salesperson from Guangdong Huaxinglong Mold Material Technology Co., Ltd., recently contacted Ningbo Customs. During the self inspection, the enterprise found that due to the carelessness of the document clerk, four items of goods declared incorrectly in the name and tariff number column of the imported goods at Ningbo Port were declared incorrectly, resulting in underpayment of taxes to the customs. If a company harbors the hope of concealing and failing to report the violation, once it is discovered in the subsequent supervision of customs, it will be subject to administrative penalties for affecting the collection of national taxes.
After understanding the confusion of enterprises, Ningbo Customs launched the "Pro Clean Direct Train • Enterprises Need Customs Response" mechanism to assist enterprise development, actively introducing proactive disclosure policies to enterprises. According to the first item of Article 1 of Announcement No. 194 of the General Administration of Customs in 2025, if a tax violation is voluntarily disclosed to the customs within one year from the date of occurrence and corrected in a timely manner, the customs will not impose administrative penalties.
After receiving the proactive disclosure report from the enterprise, considering that the enterprise is located in Dongguan, Guangdong, and personnel contact and document delivery are inconvenient, and the goods have already left Ningbo after completing customs procedures upon arrival, Ningbo Customs contacted the enterprise in the first place and conducted remote cargo inspection to accelerate the process of proactive disclosure acceptance and verification. The entire process was completed in a short period of time.
The Ningbo Customs quickly processed our company's proactive disclosure application, which not only exempted us from administrative penalties, but also avoided long-distance travel in the winter, minimizing losses. Thank you very much for the proactive disclosure policy, which gave us the opportunity to make up for our mistakes, "said Ms. Chen.
According to statistics, in the first 11 months of 2025, Ningbo Customs completed a total of 147 voluntary disclosure operations, all of which were exempted or mitigated from administrative penalties in accordance with the law, and paid over 50 million yuan in additional taxes.
Relying on the working mechanism of "pro clear direct train • enterprise demand response" to help enterprises develop, Ningbo Customs timely conveyed the active disclosure policy to enterprises through the customs government service platform, enterprise forum, WeChat official account, telephone answering questions and other ways, and publicized the customs law enforcement concept of "abiding by the law and tolerance", "combining leniency with severity" and "combining punishment with education" to enterprises. Next, Ningbo Customs will continue to provide answers and clarifications on issues of concern to enterprises, such as the scope of policy application, precautions, and required materials, in order to solve business processing problems in a "one-stop" manner. At the same time, improve internal circulation efficiency, closely monitor process nodes, promptly intervene in communication when problems are discovered, and enhance the enthusiasm of enterprises to proactively disclose.
Continuously releasing policy synergy effectiveness
Recently, a certain enterprise submitted an active disclosure report to Qingdao Dagang Customs, which is affiliated with Qingdao Customs. It disclosed that it had underreported the freight, insurance, and miscellaneous fees of goods during the import of refrigeration machine accessories, with a total underreporting amount of about 25000 US dollars and underpaid taxes of about 74000 yuan.
According to customs assessment, if the enterprise's situation meets the requirement of exemption from punishment for tax violations within one year, the policy of active disclosure can be applied, and administrative penalties will not be imposed according to law, and relevant follow-up actions will be taken. This' warm 'regulatory practice is a vivid epitome of the customs actively disclosing policies to safeguard the high-quality development of enterprises.
It is understood that as a highly certified enterprise, this mistake may result in punishment or even credit downgrade for the company. The business personnel of the enterprise thought of attending the customs proactive disclosure policy briefing before, and immediately disclosed this violation to the customs after carefully studying the policy. Not only did they avoid possible fines, but they also maintained their hard-earned qualification as a high-level certified enterprise.
It was not easy to obtain advanced certification qualifications, thanks to the proactive disclosure policy, which corrected our mistakes without affecting the development of the enterprise. It really solved a big problem! "Exclaimed the person in charge of the company.
The proactive disclosure of policies reflects the customs' enforcement philosophy of "abiding by the law and being tolerant" and "balancing leniency and strictness", effectively avoiding the "one size fits all" punishment and eliminating the phenomenon of "using punishment to manage", providing opportunities for enterprises to be tolerant and correct mistakes. At the same time, positive incentives can also promote compliance in business operations.
Announcement No. 194 of 2025 by the General Administration of Customs has extended the exemption period for tax violations from "within six months" to "within one year". It has also removed the time and amount restrictions on exemption for behaviors that affect the accuracy of customs statistics, adjusted the circumstances and conditions for actively disclosing exemption for violations in the inspection and quarantine field, and once again reduced the impact of minor violations on enterprise production and operation.
In order to ensure that the policy is implemented and effective, Qingdao Dagang Customs has built a three-dimensional publicity network of "online+offline", "internal+external" by compiling and issuing 12360 official account push articles, preparing the New Law Express, and organizing on-site policy promotion meetings, to continuously release the policy superposition effect and ensure that enterprises accurately understand the policy details. At the same time, customized training will be conducted for key groups such as advanced certification enterprises and newly registered enterprises, and dedicated personnel will be assigned to guide online application for enterprises in different regions, solving the problem of "running from one end to another". In addition, the customs also combines daily inspections and provides on-site guidance to enterprises, guiding them to conduct self inspections and reducing potential violations from the source.
Next, Qingdao Dagang Customs will continue to deepen the promotion and implementation of proactive disclosure policies, ensuring that policy dividends accurately benefit more honest enterprises, and making proactive disclosure policies a powerful support for enterprises to move forward steadily. According to statistics, in the first 11 months of this year, Qingdao Dagang Customs completed a total of 172 voluntary disclosure operations, a year-on-year increase of 1.6 times.
From 'afraid of making mistakes' to' able to prevent mistakes'
Recently, Ms. Zhu, the customs officer in charge of a certain airline company, received a contact letter from Guangzhou Baiyun Airport Customs, which is under the jurisdiction of Guangzhou Customs, to complete the necessary procedures. Based on this contact letter, this enterprise that meets the requirements for proactive disclosure applies to the customs for relevant procedures to be completed, and the customs will be exempted from administrative penalties in accordance with the law. From the anxiety of discovering problems to the peace of mind after solving them, this "compliance correction" has made enterprises truly feel the warmth and strength of customs supervision.
It is reported that previously, when the enterprise carried out aircraft lease return and repurchase business, due to the involvement of multiple links such as cross-border fund accounting and trade method declaration in the business process, self-examination found that it underreported the first installment payment of 7.059 million yuan when declaring the import of aircraft under general trade, and declared the import of a certain model of aircraft to Guangzhou Baiyun Airport Customs under general trade during lease return and repurchase, involving an underpayment of about 1.26 million yuan in taxes.
When we discovered tax evasion, we were immediately concerned that it would affect the company's credit rating, which in turn would affect subsequent import and export business processing, "said the person in charge of customs affairs of the company. After consulting with customs business experts, the enterprise immediately sorted out business vouchers, financial statements, and other materials in accordance with the relevant regulations on voluntary disclosure by customs, submitted a voluntary disclosure report, and applied for additional tax payments. After verification by customs, the enterprise voluntarily reported tax violations within one year and meets the conditions for exemption from penalties for voluntary disclosure. In the end, the customs decided to exempt the enterprise from administrative penalties and guide it to complete relevant procedures and pay taxes in accordance with the law.
Proactive disclosure policies not only provide valuable opportunities for companies to proactively correct and make up for their mistakes, but also help them establish more comprehensive internal compliance review mechanisms, forcing them to conduct regular self inspections of their import and export business. From 'afraid of making mistakes' to' being able to prevent mistakes', truly realizing the transformation from 'passive acceptance of supervision' to 'actively strengthening self-discipline', "Ms. Zhu said after learning about the exemption from punishment.
In order to continuously release the benefits of the proactive disclosure policy and further guide enterprises to operate in compliance with the law and develop in a standardized manner, since the announcement of General Administration of Customs Announcement No. 194 of 2025, Guangzhou Customs has timely optimized the supporting measures of the proactive disclosure policy, sorted out the normative documents of proactive disclosure, and adjusted the scope of operation and disposal according to the policy benefits such as significantly expanding the scope of application and relaxing the time limit requirements; Strengthen policy promotion efforts, hold lectures on favorable policies for enterprises and the "policy direct train", and conduct synchronous live broadcasts on Guangdong Radio and Television Station and the video account of Guangdong Guangzhou Customs Declaration Association, with over 50000 online viewers.
In the first 11 months of this year, Guangzhou Customs completed a total of 426 voluntary disclosure operations, with a supplementary tax of 5.1 million yuan and a reduction of late fees of 1.427 million yuan upon application.
(Correspondents Hou Taofeng, Lu Xigao, Li Lin, Liu Wei, Zhang Chun, Liu Dan, Ou Yan)