Tax Appeals Commission determination 58TACD2022 regarding C & E, 2022

• Administrative Decision Number: 58TACD2022
• Year: 2022
• Date: 25 March 2022
• Subject Matter: C & E
• Respondent: The Revenue Commissioners

1

58TACD2022

Between

Appellant

and

The Revenue Commissioners

Respondent

Determination

Introduction

1. This is an appeal to the Tax Appeals Commission (“the Commission”) pursuant to

and in accordance with the provisions of section 949I of the Taxes Consolidation Act

1997 (“the TCA 1997”) brought on behalf of

(“the Appellant”) against a Binding Tariff Classification (BTI) issued by the Revenue

Commissioners (“the Respondent”) in relation to a product used for drilling water

wells & monitoring (testing) boreholes.

2. Tariff classification decisions are in the form of BTI. A BTI is a document which

provides a written account of the holder of the classification decision, the tariff code

applicable to the product, a detailed description of the product and the legal

justification for the decision to classify the product in the particular code.

3. The Appeal concerns the interpretation of 8430 and 8705 of the Combined

Nomenclature (“CN”) set out in Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 of 23 July

1987 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff

([1987] OJ L 256/1) (“the 1987 Regulation”) and Commission Implementing

Regulation (EU 2018/ 1602 of 31 October 2018 amending Annex I to Council

2

Regulation (EEC) No 2568/87 ([2018] OJ L 273/1) (“the 2018 Regulation”) which

represent EU legislation which is directly applicable in all Member States.

4. In its application, the Appellant requested classification for its product under

subheading 8430 41 00 of the CN. On 21 November 2019, the Respondent issued

BTI IE BTI 19NT-14-8400 to the Appellant under subheading 8705 20 00 of the CN.

The classification issued carries a customs duty of 3.7%, as opposed to the

classification sought by the Appellant, which carries a customs duty of 0%.

5. The Appellant issued a first stage formal appeal to the Customs Appeal Unit of the

Respondent by email on 19 December 2019 and subsequently, by letter dated 23

December 2019. On 31 January 2020, the Respondent’s Designated Appeals

Officer (“DAO”) issued a determination upholding the BTI classification under

subheading 8705 20 00 of the CN. On 28 February 2020, the Appellant duly

appealed to the Commission.

Background

6. By cover letter dated 1 August 2019, the Appellant through its agent, lodged an

application dated 31 July 2019, with the Respondent, for a BTI for its product. The

Application was received by the Respondent on 1 August 2019.

7. In its application, the Appellant requested a classification for its product under

subheading 8430 41 00 of the CN, as the product (“machine”) is solely used for

drilling wells and monitoring boreholes.

8. The product was described in the Appellant’s BTI application as follows:-

“1. The machine is solely used for drilling water wells & monitoring (testing)

boreholes.

2. The machine drills through the ground to extract water, during this process

a certain amount of soil is removed but this can be classed as boring of a well

also (same process) and can be called boring of a well, when the company is

hired to drill a monitoring borehole this means they are drilling/boring through

the ground and water levels are then monitored. So technically they come

under both headings as both mean the same process and would be carried out

in the same way.

3. Machine specifications: engine type caterpillar C15 diesel engine, 580 HP,

weight 35 tonne, width 8ft 3”, length 38ft 6”, travel height 13ft 6”, working height

40ft 6”, each drill pipe is 20ft (6m).”