Reassessment of a customs decision
Through reassessment of a customs decision you can reclaim duty you have overpaid, for example with a wrong commodity code or an inflated customs value. The deadline is then three years from notification of the customs debt.
Four different things, often confused
The word reassessment is used loosely in everyday speech, but the rules provide four separate routes with different channels and different deadlines. Take the wrong route and you lose time you cannot get back.
- Amend the declaration
- You correct the particulars in your own declaration. Three years from its acceptance. Done digitally, through the e-service or by EDI.
- Claim money back
- You apply for repayment or remission of duty already paid. Done on form Tv 778.6 by post.
- Invalidate the declaration
- Wrong procedure, wrong goods, or returned distance sales. Here the deadline is only ninety days.
- Appeal the decision
- Goes to the administrative court, but Swedish Customs must reconsider the decision first. If it is changed as you asked, the appeal lapses.
The four routes
Swedish Customs do not in fact use the word reassessment with customers. They speak of a request to amend a decision of Swedish Customs. Reassessment appears first at the appeal stage, where it has a technical meaning.
The commonest reason a case is lost is not that the claim was wrong. It is that the deadline was counted from the wrong day.
The deadlines, and where they start
There are four grounds for repayment, and three of them carry a three year deadline. All four run from notification of the customs debt, not from the date of import.
- Overcharged amount
- Three years from notification of the customs debt. The most common ground, covering a wrong commodity code, a wrong customs value and a missed preferential rate.
- Defective goods
- One year. The shortest deadline, for goods that are defective or do not meet the terms of the contract.
- Error by the authorities
- Three years. Requires that your declaration was complete and that the error lies with the customs authority.
- Equity
- Three years. The last resort when no other ground fits.
Deadlines for repayment and remission
Amending the declaration itself has its own three year deadline, which instead runs from acceptance of the declaration. Invalidation has only ninety days. The differences are small on paper and large in practice.
Swedish Customs must also repay on their own initiative where they themselves find that the amount was too high, that an authority error occurred, or that equity applies. That duty does not extend to defective goods, where you have to apply yourself.
The proof of origin that came too late
This is the single most profitable question on the page, and also the one where general advice becomes dangerous.
If the proof of origin reached you only after the goods were released, the preferential rate can often be claimed afterwards. The customs code gives you three years. But the preference rests on an agreement, and the agreement has deadlines of its own that may be shorter.
In trade with the United Kingdom you have three years from the date of import. Under the revised pan-Euro-Mediterranean convention, in force since January 2025, a EUR.1 may be issued retrospectively for at most two years from the date of export, and a retrospective proof must be claimed within two years of import. Under registered exporters, REX, it is likewise two years. The agreement with Japan contains no provision at all for a claim after import.
So never count on three years as a general rule. Check the agreement that governs your consignment, and do it before the deadline in that agreement has run out.
The surcharge, and how to avoid it
The administrative sanction is called a customs surcharge and it is decided by Swedish Customs. Fines are something else: a criminal penalty imposed by the ordinary courts after prosecution, and bringing a public prosecution for a customs offence also requires the consent of Swedish Customs.
- Twenty per cent
- Of the duty that would not have been charged had the incorrect information been accepted.
- Ten per cent
- Where deductible VAT is concerned.
- Nothing if you correct it
- Correct the error on your own initiative and no surcharge is charged. Nor is one charged if the amount at stake is negligible.
- Your agent’s error is yours
- The debtor answers for what the representative does or fails to do. That is a point worth reading twice.
The surcharge in figures
On top of this there is a late filing fee of 500 kronor where a supplementary declaration is not lodged, or 1 000 kronor if the declaration is not lodged after a reminder.
Swedish Customs shall grant full or partial relief from the charge where taking it in full would be unreasonable. That assessment weighs, among other things, whether the error stemmed from a misjudgement of the rules, whether the charge is proportionate to the error, and whether an unreasonably long time has passed without fault on your part.
Appealing, if it comes to that
A decision is appealed to the administrative court, but the document is lodged with Swedish Customs, who must reconsider the decision first. If it is changed as you asked, the appeal lapses.
The deadline is three years from when the customs debt arose for duty, other tax, interest, the customs surcharge and the late filing fee. If the decision came later than two and a half years into that period you instead have two months from service, where that gives you longer. For other decisions, including repayment on grounds of defective goods, authority error or equity, the deadline is three weeks from service.
How we work on it
A review of past entries is rarely a single question. We read the declarations against the invoices, check commodity code, customs value and origin, and separate the lines that should be corrected in the declaration from those that should go as an application for repayment. The basis for what has to match is on the import declaration page and the customs value declaration page.
Read on
More on how imports work, whatever the country, is on our page about importing into Sweden.
Common questions
How far back can I claim?
Three years, counted from notification of the customs debt. So not from the date of import and not from the date of declaration. For defective goods the deadline is only one year.
The period is suspended during an appeal, and it can be extended if you can show that unforeseeable circumstances or force majeure prevented the application.
The proof of origin arrived after release. Can I still get the duty back?
Often yes, but this is where the most expensive trap sits. The customs code gives you three years. The agreement the preference rests on may give you considerably less.
In trade with the United Kingdom you have three years from the date of import. Under the revised pan-Euro-Mediterranean convention a EUR.1 may be issued retrospectively for at most two years from the date of export, and a retrospective proof of origin must be claimed within two years of import. Under registered exporters, REX, it is likewise two years. The agreement with Japan contains no provision at all for a claim after import. The claim has to be in the import declaration.
The conclusion is simple. Never count on three years as a general rule. Check the agreement, and do it early.
What is the difference between amending the declaration and amending the decision?
The names resemble each other but the channels and deadlines differ. Amending the declaration means correcting your own particulars. It is done digitally and the deadline is three years from acceptance of the declaration. Only the party that lodged the original declaration can do it, so if a representative declared, it is the representative who applies.
Amending the decision means claiming money back. That is done on a paper form and the deadline runs from notification of the customs debt.
Can Swedish Customs reconsider to my disadvantage?
Yes, but within limits. The customs authority may at any time annul, amend or revoke a decision that is not in accordance with customs legislation. A decision against you does however require that you can be notified of a customs debt, and that possibility ends after three years.
You must also always be told the grounds and given an opportunity to respond before a decision against you is taken. A favourable decision may only be changed to your disadvantage in limited cases, in practice mainly where the error stems from incorrect or misleading information you supplied.
Do I avoid the surcharge if I correct the error myself?
Yes. No customs surcharge is charged if the debtor corrects the incorrect information on their own initiative. That is one of the strongest reasons to review your own declarations.
What on their own initiative means is not defined in the statute. Swedish Customs read it so that a correction made because you suspect a control has been opened does not count, and a surcharge is then charged anyway. That is the authority's interpretation rather than the text of the law, but it is the one applied. The conclusion is the same either way: correct early, not when the letter arrives.
What counts as a negligible amount?
Swedish Customs have set a formula rather than a fixed figure. For duty it means an amount not exceeding one per cent of the price base amount, rounded up to the nearest hundred kronor, using the price base amount for the year the customs debt arose. For tax other than duty it is ten per cent of the price base amount. With the 2026 price base amount of 59 200 kronor the threshold for duty comes to 600 kronor. Duty and tax are assessed separately.
Is there a minimum amount for repayment?
Yes, ten euro. The customs authority shall repay or remit amounts of ten euro and above, but you may expressly request repayment of a lower amount as well. There is no Swedish threshold beyond that. Interest is a separate matter: if the decision is implemented within three months, no interest is paid on the repaid amount.
How long does it take?
A decision must be issued within 120 days of the application being accepted, with a possible extension of at most thirty days. That deadline comes from the customs code, not from Swedish Customs, who publish no processing time of their own. The customs invoice must be paid in the meantime. An appeal does not suspend implementation automatically, but implementation shall be suspended where there is good reason to believe the decision is inconsistent with customs legislation or that irreparable damage is threatened.
What happens to the VAT?
That depends on whether you are registered for VAT. If you are, Swedish Customs never collected the import VAT, because it is reported to the Swedish Tax Agency. There is then no import VAT held by Swedish Customs to recover. A changed duty amount instead changes the taxable amount, and the correction is made in your own VAT return.
If you are not registered for VAT, Swedish Customs did collect it, and the question of repayment of both duty and VAT is then decided in the same case when you apply.
How long can Swedish Customs come after me?
Three years from the day the customs debt arose. If the debt arose through an act that could give rise to criminal proceedings, the period extends to five years in Sweden. Where a prosecution for smuggling has been brought, notification may be given at the latest during the calendar year after the year of prosecution, but never later than ten years from when the debt arose. The period is suspended during an appeal and while you have been given the grounds to respond to.
