The government has decided to introduce an additional fee for foreign online shopping

The government returned to the topic of increasing payments from online purchases of Russians. Now it wants to get the right to set an additional payment for each product purchased by an individual in a foreign online store. Corresponding amendments are proposed to be introduced by the second reading of the draft law “On Customs Regulation”.

Details

• The text of the draft law on customs regulation is proposed to be supplemented with the following paragraph: "The Government of the Russian Federation has the right to establish a payment in respect of goods purchased by individuals in the framework of international electronic commerce, as well as the procedure and terms for its payment."
• The amendment was introduced by the government and United Russia deputy Sergei Chizhov. Before the second reading, it is among the amendments that the relevant State Duma Committee on Budget and Taxes recommended to put to a vote.
• The date of the second reading of the bill is still unknown.

Context

• Now, parcels worth €1,000 per month and weighing up to 31 kg are not subject to duties. Above this amount, the duty is 30% (but not less than €4 per kg), but from 2019 this will change. The new rules suggest that the duty-free threshold will be reduced to €500 in 2019 and to €200 from 2020. They were actively lobbied by Russian online stores, which believe that they are in an unfair position in relation to foreign competitors who do not pay VAT.
• The authorities periodically make attempts to change the schedule for lowering the duty-free threshold. One of the latest attempts was made by the Ministry of Finance, which in April published a draft government decree lowering the threshold for duty-free online trading to €500 from July 1, 2018 and to €200 from January 1, 2019. Another similar proposal was from the Federal Customs Service, which proposed imposing a duty on any purchases in foreign online stores from 2020.
• However, at the end of June, the authorities decided to stick to the previously approved schedule. According to Deputy Finance Minister Ilya Trunin, it was decided to reduce the threshold to €500 for duty-free importation of foreign parcels not from July 1, 2018, but from January 1, 2019.

The introduction of a payment for each foreign online purchase is the third tool for collecting money from foreign online purchases that the Russian authorities are considering, explains Boris Ovchinnikov, co-founder of the Data Insight research agency. So far, two other options have been discussed: through duties and through levying VAT on private imports. However, according to Ovchinnikov, it will be possible to talk about a specific effect for consumers only after the state begins to act. Alexander Ivanov, President of the National Association of Distance Selling, has no doubts that the government's amendment will pass.

Artem Gubenko, Egor Sonin