saintjoel: CUSTOM DUTY PAYMENT MADE SIMPLE.
The payment of custom duty has always caused arguements between agents and clients who want to bring in cars into Nigeria through ports or land borders. At jelad ventures,we have taken pains to explain the procedure to clients and we've also decided to post on Nairaland,so that clients will not be confused when bringing vehicles into Nigeria.
When you're bringing a vehicle into Nigeria,there's is a certain tariff you've to pay and it's always divided into two,bank payments and running costs. The bank payment is what you pay into the bank and it goes directly to the NCS HQ and FG while running costs is what the command you're paying through uses to print your documents etc.
Using the two pictures below as illustrations,we can see the tariff booklet is divided into three sections,year,value and bank.
A) Year - the manufacture year of the vehicle been bought into Nigeria.
B) Value - the estimated dollar value of the vehicle been brought into the country.
C) Bank - this is what the FG actually actually expects the agent pay into the bank as bank charges for his/her client's vehicle.
Please take note that apart from year of manufacture,vehicles are also rated according to engine capacity,which means your vehicle may be 20% or 35% engine capacity.
Also please note that the NCS having discovered that the bank charges were too expensive reached an unwritten agreement with agents,which means an agent can shave three/four years off the actual year of the vehicle been brought in,to make it affordable for the clients.
Now let's use three vehicles as examples using the pictures shown below.
A) 2002 Highlander - as we can see from the pictures, 2002 Highlander is rated as 20% engine capacity,valued at 4,918$ and with bank payment of 214,600,which means any importer bringing in an 02 highlander has to pay at least 350,000 =N= to obtain duty papers. 350,000 =N= must have been high for importers to pay,so an agent can use his/her discretion to run the duty papers has 1999 highlander (2002-3yrs=1999),which means 156,000 naira is paid into bank and the importer pays 250,000 has custom duty charges.
B) 2008 Highlander - from the pictures below,we can see that 2008 highlander is rated as 35% engine capacity with a dollar value of 9,250$ and bank payment of 648,268 =N=. All the agent needs to do is declare the SUV has 2004(2008-4yrs=2004),which means 420-450,000=N= can be paid into the bank while the importer pays 550-600,000=N= as bank charges.
C) 2006 Range rover HSE - From what we can see,the RRS is rated as 35% engine capacity with dollar value of 22,650$ and bank payment of 1,587,380M =N=. This particular vehicle has always been a source of confusion between importers,agents and custom officials. In some instances,we've agents who declare it has 2002(2006-4yrs=2002) and they pay =N=1M has bank charges while the importer pays 1.2M for duty charges.
We also have agents who take risks in declaring the 06 RRS as 1999 or below,which means they pay 600,000 =N= as bank payments while the importer pays 850,000 =N= as running cost but absolute care should be taken because in a situation where one agent manages to bribe his/her way out,it may not work for another agent and in such case,the vehicle may be impounded.
Now,note that when vehicles are impounded and it's about been recovered from custom officials,a DL is raised. DL means direct levy and in this case,the importer is asked to pay the original bank charges he/she was supposed to pay and also pay a 20% fine with running costs.
Running costs using seme border as an example is what an agent pays to type the documents,collect value for the vehicle,assessment and examination of vehicles and tagging. Tagging of documents is very necessary especially across land borders because these photocopies are essential,they're are records the Fed. Ops. Unit and CG squads submit in ikeja and Abuja commands to show that your vehicle passed through their checkpoints.
When next you're bringing in your vehicles in through land borders or ports,always make sure you take care that your agent doesn't short pay. Short payment means making false declaration e:g declaring an 06 RRS as 02 RRS or declaring 2007 camry as 98 camry or 2002 sienna has 1996 toyota bus.
All these acts put the vehicles at risk and it's always common amongst dubious agents and car dealers who want to make more gain from car sales,that's why we now see more and more cheap cars coming out of lagos ports and at the end,these same cars are impounded by custom officials.
Now the following post was written as by the management of Jelad ventures and it doesn't not serve as the opinion of every custom agent operating at the ports or land borders. If at anytime,there are other agents who want to add to this post,they're free to do so.
Thanks and happy new year in advance.

There should be a flat rate for agents, a working process to self clearing and one bank acc for duties .

Dis Guy:

spot on!!

johnwell: @saintjoel>>>> give me your number please!

saintjoel:

It actually depends on what the FG decides to do. In some countries like Republic of Benin,it was discovered that agents were making false declarations,thereby short-changing the government,so a general tariif of 500,000CFA was introduced and the whole system became organised.

info@lpf:
Sir, perhaps you could expound on this with the new rates. Have you cleared any vehicles in 2014? Give examples of the new rate in action - what rates have you paid for the vehicles cleared in 2014?

Thanks.

eddy42k: A friend of mine got a Nissan maxima car 2003 model no custom paper or duty paid the car is close to year now .but he says he can't travel with it .please what can he do and how .so that he can move freely . And at what cost thanks .

saintjoel:

He can get it done for 170K and he can get done at any land border (seme or idiroko) but he shouldn't come with the car to the border,any agent worth his/her salt can declare it in absentia and get the papers processed within 48hrs.

eddy42k:

thanks for ur response, well i dont think he has dat much to spend,,but is there no other way out since the car has been registerd

aeu1: For 99 corolla that must have been in the country for 4 years without customs papers, how can it be sort out

Kashif: I am looking for the contact of a custom officer at Seme command - Ijeoma Onyeagba. Any clues please?

tsiriman: Please how much will do custom papers for a registered 2008 Honda Accord?

saintjoel:

He can get it done for 170K and he can get done at any land border (seme or idiroko) but he shouldn't come with the car to the border,any agent worth his/her salt can declare it in absentia and get the papers processed within 48hrs.

saintjoel:

Sir,you've just two options.
1.Continue using it that and face the risk of custom seizure,it's only after your vehicle has been in nigeria after seven years that it can't be seized.
2.Process your custom duty for just 140,000naira.

Kloness: What's the present custom duty for a Toyota corolla 2005?

Thanks

saintjoel:

Tincan or cotonou?

saintjoel:


Cotonu
Tincan or cotonou?

saintjoel: CUSTOM DUTY PAYMENT.

These is one of the reason why it has to be jelad ventures.

We make sure that we work within what NSC has charged us and the running cost,we also make sure that what you pay has custom duty is pocket friendly and it doesn't endanger your vehicle's passage through the border.

Our operation is divided into two phases.Phase A is for vehicle's brought from cotonou and the second phase is for vehicles shipped through Cotonou.

Phase A is for vehicles brought from cotonou and are about to be processed through customs.

The two borders (idiroko and seme) have different payment schedules and what we basically do is weigh our options,after weighing those options,we present them to the client and let him/her make the choice.

We've various reasons for opening the two borders and it's all in a bid to meet the budget of our clients,a 2001 toyota sienna can be cleared through seme for 220,000 naira while the same sienna can be cleared at idiroko for 180,000 naira and it's still the same original custom duty documents you'll be given but it's not always the same cos some vehicles are cheaper to clear in seme than idiroko,thats why we always take time to sit our clients down and let them make choices.

The second phase is for vehicles been shipped through cotonou instead of lagos ports. What makes cotonou cheaper is they fact that they charge the same duty for all vehicles and all you've to contend with is Nigerian duty.

Also the same tactics is used by jelad ventures to bring your vehicles into the country,we sit down to calculate the cost of bringing in the vehicles in through cotonou and what will be charged in lagos,if the charges for cotonou is cheaper than lagos,we advice the importer to ship through cotonou but if Lagos is cheaper,it can be shipped through Lagos.Like the first phase,we also take the two Nigerian borders into consideration before bringing the vehicles into Nigeria. Demurrage in cotonou is also six months for vehicles shipped through their ports.

This and many more are the reasons why you just have to deal with jelad ventures when you are either buying or shipping through Cotonou.

ubiquitousade:

PLEASE what is the cost of clearing the following cars coming from USA
1) Highlander 2005 model
2) Toyota Matrix 2007 model
3) Acura MDX 2004 model
4) Lexus RX 330 2005 model

it can be either through lagos port or cotonou port.
Thank you.

saintjoel:

Shipping through Lagos-

05 HIGHLANDER - =N=550,000
07 matrix - =N=620,000
04 MDX - =N= 450,000
05 rx330 - =N= 550,000

Shipping through cotonou -

05 highlander - =N= 485,000
07 matrix - =N= 450,000
04 MDX - =N= 614,000
05 RX330 - =N= 470,000.