Now the threshold for duty-free import of goods when ordering them in foreign online stores has decreased to 500 euros and 31 kg per month. Previously, it was possible to make duty-free purchases up to 1,000 euros.
It is important that the changes also affect those cases when you bring purchases from abroad with you. For example, goods whose customs value does not exceed the equivalent of 500 euros and whose total weight does not exceed 25 kg can be transported without paying duty by car, as well as by rail, sea or river transport. If you cross the border by plane, then without paying duties and taxes you can import no more than 50 kg of goods worth up to 10,000 euros.
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How to calculate your customs duty in advance?
Within one calendar month, you can order duty-free purchases in the online store in your name, weighing up to 31 kg, and costing no more than 500 euros. If these standards are exceeded, you will have to pay a duty of 30% of the cost of the excess (but not less than 4 euros for each kilogram in terms of excess cost and/or weight). Import standards and customs duty rates for personal goods imported into Russia by other means are given in the table.
To make a correct calculation, you need to correctly sum up the cost of your purchases. This is the sum of all packages you received during one calendar month. It is extremely important to understand that it is counted for the period when they arrived on the territory of our country. What does this mean exactly? Let's assume you made a purchase at the end of March, and it arrived at customs in April. This means that the parcel will be taken into account as an April one. The number of purchases themselves is not limited in any way; their amount or weight is important. True, there are also nuances. For example, if your parcel contains the entire size range of one shoe model, then you should be prepared for the fact that this may be regarded as a commercial purchase of a batch of shoes.
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When importing and exporting express cargo from the customs territory of the Customs Union, customs operations preceding the filing of a customs declaration are carried out as a matter of priority.
The Customs Code of the Russian Federation defines express cargo as goods transported as part of high-speed transportation by any means of transport using an electronic information system for organizing and tracking transportation in order to deliver this product to the recipient in accordance with an individual invoice within the minimum possible and (or) fixed period of time , with the exception of goods sent by international mail.
Express cargo is placed under the customs procedure as a matter of priority.
Order of the Federal Customs Service of Russia dated July 2, 2013 No. 1225 defines the rules for performing customs operations as a matter of priority in relation to express cargo transported across the customs border of the Customs Union. Express cargo can be transported across the border by commercial organizations or several such companies united in a single network of transportation by air and road transport, specializing in the delivery of shipments in the shortest possible time (express carriers), as well as agents or contractors of the express carrier.
Express cargo is divided into 4 categories:
- Category 1 - documents and correspondence that have no commercial value, the transportation of which is not accompanied by the preparation of commercial documents;
- Category 2 - express cargo, the total customs value of which does not exceed 200 euros in equivalent and in respect of which customs duties and taxes are not paid, and customs fees are not collected for actions related to the release of goods;
- Category 3 - express cargo, the total customs value of which is over 200 euros, the declaration of which can be carried out by submitting an application in the form of a register of express cargo or in any form;
- Category 4 - express cargo, the total customs value of which exceeds 1000 euros, the declaration of which is carried out in the generally established manner by submitting a goods declaration.
Declaration of goods
When declaring goods at customs, depending on the declared customs procedures and the persons moving the goods, a declaration for goods is used, among others.
The customs declaration for goods indicates only the information that is necessary for the calculation and collection of customs duties, the formation of customs statistics and the application of the customs legislation of the Customs Union. Moreover, this list can be shortened
by decision of the Customs Union Commission or the legislation of the member states of the customs union.
Transport (transportation), commercial and (or) other documents containing information necessary for the release of goods in accordance with the customs procedure can be used as a customs declaration, in cases and in the manner determined by the Customs Code of the Russian Federation or a decision of the Customs Union Commission.
Transport (shipping) or commercial documents with the provision of an application are used in relation to express cargo declared under customs procedures for release for domestic consumption, export, as well as re-export or re-import. Moreover, the following requirements must be met:
- the total customs value of the declared goods does not exceed 200 euros, and in cases provided for by the legislation of the member states of the customs union - 1000 euros;
- goods are moved by the same person to fulfill obligations under one foreign trade agreement (contract), concluded during a foreign economic transaction or under a unilateral foreign economic transaction, or without completing any transaction;
- transportation of goods is carried out on one vehicle;
- goods are presented to one customs authority at the same time.
How to pay the duty without problems?
If you find yourself in a situation where you still need to pay customs duties, there are many ways to do this. For example, make a payment through a bank. Using a receipt, you can transfer money to any bank. The main thing is to fill out all payment details correctly, otherwise the money will not reach its intended destination and the parcel will be delayed at customs.
When express delivery of a parcel, most of the companies providing this service provide a service that allows you to pay customs duties from a regular bank card online in their personal account.
If the parcel is delivered by Russian Post, and additional payment of customs duties is required, then you need to take into account that the shipment arrives together with a customs receipt order (CPO) and a receipt, and they can be paid at the post office or, if there is such a possibility in your region, using your own Russian Post online payment service. In a number of regions it began working in test mode on November 1, 2021.
Question answer
What, how much and how much. What can and cannot be imported from abroad?
Another option for paying duties is to deposit money directly into the cashier at customs. But you need to know that recently there are fewer and fewer such cash desks.
In addition to them, there are special terminals for payment at customs posts. They allow you to read the barcode on the receipt for payment of customs duties, thanks to this all details are automatically loaded, and there is no need to enter all this data manually. Payment is made using a bank card. Recently, it became possible to pay using the ApplePay and SamsungPay systems for contactless payment.
For individuals, there is also the option of paying through the IPPAY service of the customs payments operator “Multiservice Payment System”. It allows you to find customs receipts using your details and make payments online. This is done like this: you need to indicate your full name, series and passport number, and all receipts available for this person will be automatically downloaded. They can be paid immediately with a MIR, Visa or MasterCard bank card. This way, you can now pay only those receipts that, when generating a customs receipt order (CRO), were initially issued by the inspector for subsequent online payment. But technology is developing, and soon it will be possible to pay any receipts this way - all of them will be uploaded to the service automatically.
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Import VAT
VAT - known as value added tax, when importing goods, will be another customs payment that will have to be paid to “clear” the goods through customs. If you apply a special regime and have not previously encountered VAT in your activities, then this privilege does not apply when importing foreign goods.
In order to calculate VAT payable, you need to determine the tax base and tax rate. The tax base for paying VAT consists of the customs value of the imported goods (we wrote about it in the first part of our article), the amount of import customs duty, and the amount of excise tax. Then all this is multiplied by the rate (0, 10 or 20%)
