Import Under Order in Brazil
Just like the importation on behalf, the importation under order is another way to outsource the intermediate activities related to foreign trade, a tendency that has become quite common to companies nowadays.
The companies that opt for import under order are more interested in the final activities of their business, conceding the responsibility and realization of the rest of the import process to other companies, outsourcing the intermediate activities related to foreign trade of their business.
Import Under Order
The import under order is a legal practice that establishes an agreement between a contractee company and an importer, recognized and regulated by the Federal Revenue Secretariat (SRF) of Brazil. In this type of operation, the company - the contractee - interested in some good, hires another company - the importer - to realize the importation customs clearance of this good, in order to subsequently resell it to the contractee.
Purchase Designation
The importation and the resale are performed with the importer's own resources, even though this importer is merely hired by another company. Since in the import under order the importer acquires the good with the exporter abroad, nationalize the good and resells it to the contractee, this importation has to the importer the same taxation effects that a self importation would has.
Which means, that the purchase of the good is designated to the importer company - the one that actually pays for the purchase with its own resources (even if it was just being hired by a third party, the contractee). While the importer must have economic condition to pay the importation, the contractee must have economic capacity to acquire the imported good in the internal market, when it will be resale to him.
Unlike the import on behalf, in which the purchase must be done in the name of the hiring company, for import under order, according to the Rules of the Exchange and Capital Markets (RMCCI) of Bacen, the exchange transaction for importation payment shall be conducted exclusively in the name of the importer.
Transfer Pricing Rules
Another important effect of this kind of operation is that the Brazilian transfer pricing rules are applied to the importer and to the contractee. In other words, if the foreign exporter is domiciled in a country or dependency with favored taxation, the transfer pricing rules must be taken into consideration for the income tax calculation.
Taxation Matters
Even though the collection of taxes on imported goods such as IPI, COFINS-Import, PIS/Pasep-Itaxes on imported goods such as IPI, COFINS-Import, PIS/Pasep-Import are levied on the importer, because the contractee was the one responsible for the purchase of the imported goods, he must also be jointly liable for the payment of those taxes. This happens, because both parties have common interest in the situation that constitutes the taxable event: the importation of goods.
How the Import Under Order is Done?
For the import under order to be performed in a perfectly regular manner, it is necessary that both - the contractee company and the importer - are registered in Siscomex. Thus, in addition to providing its own license, the contractee shall submit to the SRF a copy of the contract signed between the two companies, characterizing the nature of their connection, so that the importer is bound to the contractee in Siscomex.
A condition for the importation to be considered an import under order is that the operation is performed entirely with funds from the importer hired, because otherwise, it would be considered an import operation of the contractee. In order to promote the customs clearance of imported goods, the following conditions must also be attended:
- When issuing the import declaration (DI), the importer shall indicate in the field “importer” the registration number of the contractee's CNPJ.
- When issuing the DI, in the field “additional information” must be informed the nature of the operation, which means, that it must be declared that the operation is an importation under order.