Furniture importer pays fine for duty evasion

The U.S. Justice Department on Monday said Import Merchandising Concepts and two individuals agreed to pay $275,000 to resolve allegations that the company evaded customs duties on imports of wooden bedroom furniture from China.    The U.S. Justice Department on Monday said Import Merchandising Concepts (IMC) and two individuals, Glen Michaels and Alan Lewis, agreed to pay $275,000 to resolve allegations that the company evaded customs duties on imports of wooden bedroom furniture from China.
   Based in Addington, Texas, IMC imports bedroom furniture that is sold for use in university student housing. Michaels is an IMC executive, while Lewis was an IMC agent, the Justice Department said.
   According to the investigation, Michaels and Lewis evaded antidumping duties on imported Chinese wooden bedroom furniture between 2009 and 2014 by misclassifying the furniture as non-bedroom furniture on the import documentation.
   Antidumping duties are accessed to protect against foreign companies “dumping” products on the U.S. market at prices below cost. The Commerce Department assesses and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) collects these duties.
   At the time of the imports alleged in this case, wooden bedroom furniture from China was subject to a 216 percent antidumping duty, while non-bedroom furniture was not subject to any antidumping duties, the Justice Department said.
   The investigation was handled by the Justice Department Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas, and CBP.