The Association of Internet Trade Companies (AKIT) has proposed introducing a single fee for purchases made in foreign online stores, regardless of the price of goods, in the amount of 15%. The proposals were received by the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications, the department on April 29 forwarded them for consideration to the Analytical Center under the Government, the Institute named after E. T. Gaidar and the head of the Russian Post, - writes Kommersant.
The AKIT initiative aims to equalize the conditions in which foreign and domestic companies operate in the e-commerce market. At present, according to AKIT representatives, foreign companies have a privileged position, since they do not pay VAT and customs duties, and are not required to certify goods.
Meanwhile, the conditions for cross-border trade in Russia are constantly tightening. So on January 1, 2019, the duty-free threshold was lowered from 1 to 500 euros. If during a calendar month this threshold is exceeded or the total weight of orders for one person exceeds 31 kg, the buyer is obliged to pay 30% of the excess amount, but not less than € 4 per 1 kg over the limit. In 2020, the duty-free threshold is proposed to be reduced to 200 euros, while it will be calculated from each parcel. The head of AKIT Artem Sokolov believes that the duty-free threshold should be canceled altogether.
According to the Russian Post, the reduction of the duty-free threshold at the beginning of this year yielded results, the number of cross-border parcels to Russia began to fall. According to statistics from the Gaidar Institute, in 2018, the volume of cross-border e-commerce amounted to 316 billion rubles.
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