Customs crackdown

Kingston, Jamaica:

Jamaica Customs Department is stepping up its drive against the practice of underinvoicing.

In a release dated May 3, the Customs Department stated that in light of Government's recent reduction in duty rates on motor vehicles and motorcycles, they would be treating any act of under-invoicing in the harshest possible manner allowed by law.

Underinvoicing is the fraudulent cutting or the false declaration of the transaction value paid or payable of the actual invoice.

Sanctions, according to the Customs Department, will include forfeiture of the vehicle and imposing a penalty of three times the value of the vehicle.

The department said it would be monitoring the situation very closely.