For many corporations Customs Offices are a nice source of income, both in high, low and null security space. Some systems are restricted in that no Customs Offices, player owned or otherwise, are permitted. Most of these systems are located around the popular player trading hubs. If players are unable to deploy an office because of restrictions, then they will have to try alternate systems. Customs Offices may be built by anchoring a Customs Office Gantry (available as blueprint copies from the CONCORD LP Store) and providing the necessary materials to convert the gantry into the Customs Office. Only one Customs Office or Customs Office Gantry can be present at a planet.
The income of player owned customs offices relies upon a tax rate set by the owners of the office. The amount of taxes paid, and indeed the ability to use the customs office to export items from the planet, will depend upon the owner's standings to other corporations and alliances. Directors and CEOs of the owning corporation can right click on the office and select 'Configure' to adjust the access rights and the tax rates. This can be done in space next to the office or via the Corporation assets window.
Players using customs offices in high security space will be subject to two taxes when then use a customs office. The tax by the owners of the corporation as well as a tax imposed by CONCORD. The amount of ISK taken for this tax can be reduced by training the Customs Code Expertise skill. These tax costs are displayed in two separate entries in the wallet journal.
The lucrative nature of customs offices can make their owners a target for other corporations and alliance who may want to destroy the customs office and put their own in place. Unlike null security outposts a customs office will be destroyed when it is attacked and not switch ownership. When a customs office is put into reinforced mode a notification will be sent to the owners. To give the owners a good opportunity to defend their asset they can specify a time when their customs office will exit reinforcement.
The ownership of a customs office can be transferred to another corporation, but not to an alliance. For players to transfer ownership a corporation director or the CEO needs to be in space next to the office, then right click on the office and select 'Transfer Ownership'. The name of the corporation that the office is to be transferred to is search for and selected in the results. It's important that the correct corporation is selected as the transfer will occur immediately and cannot be reversed.
Transferring ownership of customs offices is restricted if the owners are at war or have a war pending. When at war, customs offices can only be transferred to other corporations within the same alliance.
It's also important that customs offices are transferred before a corporation disbands, otherwise the office will be removed the downtime after the corporation closes.