a) Whether the Bill of Lading and Delivery Order charges form part
of the customs value and hence collectible by the Commissioner
of Customs & Excise?

b) Whether the Value Added Tax payable on the Bill of Lading and
Delivery Order charges ought to be collected from the importers
and not the Appellant?

a) The Notice of Assessment issued by the Respondent on the 1st day
of November, 2012, is defective as it does not give any
explanation of the reasons for the assessment and the Respondent
has failed, refused or ignored the request by the Appellant for
such explanation;
I

b) All charges, fees and impositions incurred by importers of goods
in connection with the international transport of goods by sea to
the port of entry constitutes in sum a single cost of freight, that is
part of the value of the goods for purposes of assessing import
duty and Value Added Tax, which is the liability of the importer.
The Respondent had erred in law and fact to hold out that some
of those ancillary freight charges do not constitute the cost of
freight;

c) The assessment, collection and enforcement of a duty of customs
are the sole preserve of the Commissioner of Customs and the
person liable to account for and pay the duty of custom is the
importer of goods and not the agent of the shipping line that
brought the subject goods. The Respondents has not established
that proper taxes have not been collected by the Commissioner of
Customs in respect of the ancillary freight costs and that in any
event no reasons have been proffered to demand any uncollected
taxes from the Appellant and not the importers;

The Tribunal finds in the circumstances that the Value Added Tax
on the Bill of Lading and Delivery Order is collectible by the
Respondent from the Appellant and not the importers of the goods
in respect of whom the Appellant rendered the necessary
documentation processing services.
Judgement Appeal No.143 of 2015 Page 9
36. The Tribunal hereby upholds the assessment of the additional Value
Added Tax on the Bill of Lading and Delivery Order charges for the
period running from January, 2010 to June, 2012 assessed at a sum
of Kshs.18,408,427/= as of the 1st day of November, 2012 and
accordingly finds that the Appeal has no merit and proceeds to
dismiss the same with no orders as to costs.