进口税或关税是美国政府的一个快速增长的收入来源。在2010年至2017年每年约300至400亿美元之后，2018年跃升至730亿美元，然后在2019年攀升至850亿美元。2020年的情况也将类似。
然而，美国海关和边境保护局（CBP）只能检查到达美国入境口岸的一小部分货物。相反，政府依靠的是一个本质上的 "荣誉系统"，在这个系统下，进口商自己被指望正确标记他们的货物，并自我报告和支付他们所欠的关税。有鉴于此，进口税的逃避被认为是很普遍的。
Whistleblower lawsuits under the False Claims Act are increasingly being recognized as an important component of customs compliance. Though precise statistics are not available, it is believed that the rate of Government interventions in customs cases is higher than other categories of qui tam litigation. It is vital to engage a tenacious whistleblower attorney with experience and a track record of success in prosecuting customs whistleblower lawsuits like Mark A. Strauss to evaluate your matter.
Valuation Fraud
The most common type of customs fraud consists of understating the dutiable value of the goods being imported. Importers are required to declare the value of imported merchandise on entry documents (including Entry Summary Form 7501). They are also generally required to supply a copy of an invoice from an unrelated third-party to establish the “transaction value” of the imports in question.
Undervaluation schemes typically involve phony or doctored invoices or a failure to disclose required components of the transaction value such as “assists” – materials supplied by the buyer for use in the manufacturing process. Schemes frequently also involve the submission of invoices that are claimed to be from unrelated third parties but which are actually from affiliates or co-conspirators in the duty evasion scheme.
In the Motives Inc. case, for example, the defendants disguised the true value of imports by presenting false invoices to CBP reflecting only a portion of the purchase price. The parties used a separate second set of invoices – misleadingly referred to as “debit notes” – that reflected the true prices but which were not disclosed to CBP. The defendants paid $13.4 million to the Government to settle the qui tam whistleblower claims.
Country-of-Origin Fraud
Another major category of Customs fraud consists of the falsification of the “country-of-origin” of the goods being imported. Violators engage in “country of origin” fraud by mislabeling the goods or transshipping them through third countries to make it appear as though they came from countries with lower applicable Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) duty rates or no import quotas for the goods in question. Country-of-origin frauds are also used to evade anti-dumping and countervailing (ADD or CVD) duties. This type of fraud typically involves deceptive conduct like repacking, relabeling and mixing goods from other sources to conceal the true origin.
An example comes from the Tai Shan Golden Gain Aluminum Products case. There, in response to the imposition of U.S. antidumping and countervailing duties that made it impossible to profitably import aluminum extrusion products from China, the defendants transshipped the goods instead through Malaysia, repacking and remarking them to disguise their country of origin. A trade consultant working in the industry discovered the fraud and filed a qui tam lawsuit. The defendants paid $4.5 million to settle the claims.
一种类似的欺诈行为涉及虚假标记或冒充美国制造的货物，而实际上这些货物是进口的。这样做可能是为了规避进口限制或政府采购中常见的 "购买美国货 "要求。
In the ESM Group case, for example, a seller of ultra-fine magnesium powder to the U.S. Government mislabeled the product as having been manufactured in the United States in order to satisfy Pentagon procurement requirements. In fact, however, the chemical came from China. The defendants paid $8 million to settle the qui tam claims.
