Monday, May 23, 2005  Stuck in the Middle With You  Well I don't
know why I came here tonight, I got the feeling that something
ain't right, I'm so scared in case I fall off my chair, And I'm
wondering how I'll get down the stairs, Clowns to the left of
me, Jokers to the right, here I am, Stuck in the middle with
you.  --Stealers Wheel  Remember that transaction value is the
price paid or payable for the goods when sold for export? Well,
what happens if there are two or more sales for export? Believe
it or not, that happens a fair amount. The most common scenario
is where the U.S. customer buys from a reseller who, in turn,
buys from the manufacturer. Generally speaking, the price from
the manufacturer to the middleman will be less than the sale
from the middleman to the importer. So, for customs valuation
purposes, guess what the importer wants to use as the sale for
transaction value? By the same token, guess what sale Customs
wants to use? The answer is that Customs is often quite happy to
apply duty to th