What should I do if my package is detained/seized by customs? 2026 Complete Processing Guide

1. Don’t panic: first find out whether it is “detention” or “inspection”

A notice that a parcel is "stuck at customs" does not mean the goods have been confiscated. Common procedures include:

• Approved inspection (C3)：The Customs risk system classifies the declaration as C3 (cargo inspection), requiring unpacking or an X-ray check (C3X). C3 is an inspection channel, not a finding of a violation; release still depends on the inspection result and applicable import rules.
• Supplementary documents / additional duty required：Customs may request corrections when documents are incomplete, value must be reassessed, or an approval document is missing. A request for supplementary documents is not itself a penalty; after correction, Customs still decides whether to release the goods based on the documents, inspection result, and import rules.

Will I be fined if my parcel is detained by customs? How much?

Simply being designated for C3 inspection, or receiving a request for supplementary documents or a duty notice, is not in itself a penalty; whether you are penalised depends on whether there was a false declaration, smuggling or another violation. Under Article 37, Paragraph 1 of the Customs Anti-Smuggling Act, anyone who declares goods for import with a false description, quantity, weight, quality, value or specification may, depending on the seriousness of the case, be fined up to 5 times the import duty evaded, or have the goods confiscated, or both; under Article 36, Paragraph 1, smuggling goods into the country is punishable by a fine of up to 3 times the value of the goods; under Paragraph 2, anyone who unloads, loads, transports, receives, conceals, buys or sells on consignment smuggled goods is liable to a fine of up to NT$90,000; and under Paragraph 3, smuggled goods are confiscated. A person who unloaded, received or otherwise handled the goods without knowing they were smuggled is not penalised once Customs has verified this (Paragraph 4). Article 44 of the same Act provides that no further levy or penalty may be imposed once 5 years have elapsed since the event.

How do I check whether my parcel is being held by customs?

There are three ways to check. The Ministry of Finance Customs Administration's page “How can I find out whether import or export goods have been inspected by Customs?” (2026-07-08) states plainly: “To make it easy for cargo owners to know whether their import or export goods have been designated for inspection, they may check on the Customs-Port-Trade Single Window website.” Go to portal.sw.nat.gov.tw, hover over “Customs Clearance Services”, click “Certificate-free Enquiry Services” and then choose the import clearance process; this is a certificate-free enquiry service. Taipei Customs also provides a direct “Import Declaration Clearance Process Enquiry” entry. The second way is the pending-task notifications in the EZ WAY app, which show statuses such as declaration awaiting confirmation or under inspection. The third is to ask your consolidator or customs broker to pull up the declaration, which is the only channel that can tell you whether it was designated C1, C2 or C3.

How high is the risk of a C3 inspection? What are the odds of being picked?

This site has found no fixed C3 sampling rate published by Customs and no publicly disclosed risk bands. According to the Customs Administration, after goods are declared through the automated online system, the customs computer expert system designates each declaration, one by one, as C1 (no document review or inspection), C2 (document review) or C3 (physical inspection) on the basis of screening criteria such as the trader's clearance record, the origin of the goods, the nature of the goods and the customs broker; for the “C3 probability of X%” figures circulating online, this site has found no official source. In practice, the way to reduce the chance of a C3 designation is to declare the product description and price truthfully, have the invoice and specification documents ready, and choose a customs broker with a good clearance record. Note also that HowBridge's own sea-express records only show the filing and release times logged by the customs system; they contain no clearance-type code, so they cannot be used to estimate the C1/C2/C3 split or the probability of inspection. For segment times and the statistical basis, see the HowBridge measured data on the “How long does Taiwan customs clearance take” page.

Academic research likewise treats "documentation" as a controllable risk: in "A Study on Risk Management in the Customs Clearance and Cargo Pick-up Process of Imported Goods", published by Tseng Wen-jui, Ma Bi-lien and colleagues in issue 27 of the Journal of National Kaohsiung Marine University (《高雄海洋科大學報》, 2013), the authors drew up risk factors using the Delphi method, surveyed clearance practitioners and then conducted expert interviews, arriving at 16 clearance and pick-up risk factors and 21 risk management strategies, and grouping the sources of risk into three categories: the goods themselves, missing documents in the clearance process, and the inland transport leg. Among these, "missing documents" is precisely the category most common in consolidated small parcels - and the easiest to eliminate before you even ship. (The study was published in 2013, before several revisions to real-name authentication and the Single Window, so the current rules prevail on procedural details.)

Got a notice saying "your parcel cannot clear customs in time due to inspection"? First tell a real status from a scam text

That sentence has two identities: it really does exist as a status line on tracking pages, and it is also the favourite script of scam texts - the difference is what it asks you to do next. Genuine customs and postal procedures run on paper notices and apps; a scam is in a hurry to hand you a payment link. Use the three rules below to tell them apart, then check the table for how to handle each message.

• Real Customs does not collect duty by text message or private messaging apps. An appeal by Kaohsiung Customs published by the Ministry of Finance Customs Administration (2022-02-17): “Customs will not notify consignees to pay duty by telephone, e-mail, Line or similar means, nor will it ask consignees to pay duty by transferring money to a private account or in bitcoin.” On 2026-10-29 the Customs Administration clarified again: “Customs officers will never use private messaging apps to ask the public to transfer money or to handle parcels or import/export goods privately.” Duties, taxes and fines must all be paid into the national treasury through lawful channels, and a duty assessment is always backed by a paper tax bill.
• If a postal parcel really is held, there is always a paper notice. Taipei Customs explains that the post office mails an "International Parcel Customs Inspection Notice" (國際包裹補辦驗關手續通知單) on the day after import, asking the recipient to complete inspection formalities: "If you have not received the above notice, the parcel is not one held by Customs for inspection formalities." Chunghwa Post likewise states that it will never notify customers by e-mail to make online transfers.
• If you cannot tell, do two things. Open the EZ WAY app and check your pending notices (a real notice appears inside the app, not as a text-message link); for a suspicious message, call the 165 anti-fraud hotline or the Customs Administration on (02)2550-5500 to verify. To confirm a tax bill, phone the relevant customs office (Taipei Customs 03-383-4265; see the phone numbers of each customs office published by the Customs Administration).

2. Comparison table: the seven main reasons a parcel is held or stuck, and their tell-tale signs

Refer to the table below to determine which category you belong to, and then look at the corresponding processing flow in Section 3.

3. What to do in each case: supplementary documents, additional duty and return shipment

The following are the 5 standard steps (HowTo) for handling a stuck notification:

1. Find out the reason for detention

   Open the EZWay app and read your pending notices, or contact your consolidator's or customs broker's customer service and ask precisely: "is this a C3 inspection, supplementary documents, additional duty, an approval requirement or a return shipment?" That answer determines everything you do next.

2. Prepare the corresponding documents

   Supplementary documents: prepare the purchase invoice (with unit price and quantity), a product list and the ingredient/specification sheet. Approval cases: prepare the BSMI declaration of conformity, the TFDA import permit, the NCC certification approval and so on. Declaration mismatch: prepare the genuine transaction invoice to substantiate the customs value.

3. Upload/correction through customs broker

   Submit the documents to the customs broker, who will make corrections to the declaration in the customs system or submit the original written document. C3 inspection will be accompanied by a customs broker.

4. Pay back taxes (if necessary)

   If it is determined to be taxable or needs to be paid back, after receiving the customs tax payment certificate, it must be paid within 14 days from the day after delivery in accordance with Article 43 of the Customs Tariff Law; late payment fees will be levied daily for overdue payments. Tax exemption is available up to NT$2,000 and within 6 times in half a year.

5. Release or return shipment

   Customs inspection and clearance guidance. Prepare the required documents, follow the notice, and contact your customs broker for lawful release.

After these steps, Customs still determines whether to release the goods, request further correction, order return, or take another action based on the inspection result, documents, and import rules. The law does not guarantee completion within a set number of days after documents are supplied. Delivery after release depends on the carrier's actual progress.

How do you complete EZWay real-name authentication and confirm the declaration? See the complete EZWay guide.

4. Return vs. Release vs. Abandon: How to choose among the three options?

5. Legal time limit and consequences of overdue (will be sold/confiscated)

Customs will not keep your package indefinitely. According to customs laws, failure to process within the time limit will lead to fee increases and liquidation:

• Declaration deadline: In principle, imported goods must be declared within 15 days from the day after the import date of the means of transport (Article 16 of the Customs Act).
• Late-declaration fee: If goods are not declared in time, a late-declaration fee of NT$200 per day is imposed from the day after the declaration deadline expires (Article 73, Paragraph 1 of the Customs Act).
• Sale: If the goods are still not declared after the late-declaration fee has been imposed for 20 days, Customs sells the goods (Article 73, Paragraph 2 of the Customs Act); if any balance of the proceeds remains after deducting the duty payable and necessary expenses, Customs holds it in custody, and the taxpayer may apply for its return within 5 years; after that, it goes to the national treasury.
• Deadline for paying additional duty: Duty must be paid within 14 days from the day after the duty payment notice is served (Article 43 of the Customs Act); if it is not paid by the deadline, a late-payment surcharge of 0.05% of the unpaid duty is imposed per day, and if the duty is still unpaid after the surcharge has been imposed for 30 days, the goods may be sold under Article 73, Paragraph 2, applied mutatis mutandis (Article 74).
• Return deadline: For goods that may not be imported, Customs must order their return within a set time limit; if the owner declares in writing that the goods are abandoned, or does not return them within the time limit, Customs may sell the goods, and the balance of the proceeds after deducting the duty payable and necessary expenses goes to the national treasury (Article 96 of the Customs Act).

If it is not processed within the time limit, it will eventually enter the customs auction and sale process. For details, see the complete guide to Taiwan customs auctions.

6. How to appeal, apply for review and seek release

If you believe that the customs value, tariff code or punishment determined by the customs is wrong, you have legal remedies:

• Supply supporting evidence first: Provide real purchase invoices, payment records, and product links as soon as possible, and explain the actual transaction price to the customs.
• Applying for review: If you disagree with the tariff classification, customs value or additional duty assessed by Customs, you must apply in writing to Customs for a review within 30 days from the day after receiving the duty payment notice (Article 45 of the Customs Act); if you disagree with an anti-smuggling penalty (a fine or confiscation), you must apply for a review to the Customs office that issued it within 30 days from the day after receiving the penalty decision; Customs must decide within 2 months, and may extend this once by up to 2 months if necessary (Article 47 of the Customs Anti-Smuggling Act).
• Administrative appeal and administrative litigation: If you disagree with the review decision, you may file an administrative appeal and then bring administrative litigation in accordance with the law (Article 47 of the Customs Act); the administrative appeal must be filed within 30 days from the day after the review decision is received (Article 14 of the Administrative Appeal Act).
• Get help from a licensed customs broker: Customs brokers are familiar with tariff classification and supporting requirements, and can assist in legally obtaining correct valuations and releases, and avoid delays due to incomplete documents.

Regulatory basis and official sources

FAQ