Payment under the contract for the purchase of goods for import to Ukraine

You have entered into a foreign economic contract to purchase goods or property abroad. Moreover, you have paid for it and are waiting for it to be shipped. However, this is not the end of the payment story, but rather the beginning. You'll need all the documents related to the goods at customs clearance, and you may also need them for the next three years after customs clearance, in case of an inspection.

Today, we will tell you what documents must be executed when paying for the contract in order for the goods to reach Ukraine successfully, and you have no problems with its customs clearance.

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What documents must be drawn up when paying for imported goods?

A contract, an additional agreement or specification to it, and a pro-forma shall be provided for payment. All documents must be either bilingual or have translation into Ukrainian language.

As a result, the entrepreneur receives a payment order, which will confirm the fact of payment. Such proof stays with the entrepreneur.

As for the carrier, it will have no documents confirming the payment at the border. It must have the following package of documents along with the goods:

• invoice;
• packing document;
• transport document;
• preliminary customs declaration.

Clarity and absence of discrepancies in the documents is the key to trouble-free clearance and subsequent inspections. Each stage of foreign economic activity is subject to mandatory control at many levels:

1. First, the entrepreneur checks whether he correctly submits the documents to the bank for payment, whether all the documents correctly and equally indicated parties, or the correct bank details.
2. Next, the submitted documents are checked by the bank's currency control
3. During customs clearance, the documents will be checked by a customs inspector.

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Mistakes in the execution of documents for payment for imported goods

Even after passing so many levels of control there may still be mistakes that must be corrected:

• The wrong bank may be indicated in the declaration, and the bank will not have access to this particular declaration;
• There may be an error in the number or date of the payment order, and the bank will not see the closure of the currency transaction;
• An error in the number or date of the agreement will also prevent the bank from closing the currency transaction.

The most interesting, but quite common, case is when the goods come from the other counterparty For example, the one who was paid does not have permission to export the goods. There are several options for solving such a situation.

The first is to make an additional tripartite agreement to the contract and explain to customs that the contract is tripartite. But these are ways of “getting out of the situation” that should be approached very cautiously.

The second way is to go to the customs with all the documents available for the goods, including payment orders, the contract under which the payment was made, and to ask the customs for permission to carry out customs clearance from the counterparty to whom the payment was made. There is a rule: we must clear the goods from the party we paid to.

Then we write an additional explanation as to why it happened that the goods of one counterparty actually came from another. This way, of course, the customs will be more picky about the goods, because they will see that something has already been done to them. This option is the right one, but it requires effort to communicate with customs and understand how to do it.

Our team offers you full support for the import of goods to Ukraine: from elaboration of contracts and control over the correctness of the payment to the successful customs clearance of the goods at the Ukrainian customs.

Please check the service fee and packages here.

Don’t hesitate to contact us for professional assistance in organizing import and export of goods to Ukraine. We will make the procedure simple and safe.

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