"Mail of Russia" offers to reduce the duty-free threshold for online purchases of up to 50 euros

Today it became known that the Post of Russia proposes to reduce the duty-free threshold of 1000 euros (current figure) to 50 euros by 2021. This proposal was sent by the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Director General Nikolai Podguzov to the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Arkady Dvorkovich on October 10, Kommersant reports .

According to the information of the journalists of the publication, the letter contains a resolution of the deputy prime minister: “Urgently. Update the calculation of the budget effect at different thresholds with the participation of the Ministry of Finance and the Post of Russia. In the opinion of the “Russian Post” management, the presented schedule allows us to maintain “the growth rate of cross-border e-commerce and maximize federal budget revenues in the medium term.”

According to experts from the Association of E-commerce Companies (ACIT), the volume of cross-border trade in the first half of 2017 increased by 34% compared to last year. By the end of the year, according to ACIT, the growth should be 37%, in monetary terms it is 420 billion rubles.
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According to some experts, lowering the duty-free threshold for imported parcels can slow the growth of cross-border e-commerce. For example, now this technology is being developed for implementation on AliExpress.com. Russians make up to 80% of all cross-border purchases on this site.

With the fact that the duty-free threshold to lower below 200 euros is not necessary, agrees to the Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, writes "TASS".

“There are different calculations. According to my feelings, it is not necessary to lower below € 200. At this level, we will be able to get the budgetary effect that the Ministry of Finance predicted. Better within the EurAsEC. This is ideal if everyone [sets the bar] at the same time. In Belarus, and so below the threshold, there is generally € 22, in Kazakhstan - € 500. It is better to find a middle ground, to coordinate actions, ”he said.

Dvorkovich also said that the mechanism of automatic collection of fees for purchases on the Web will be regulated in a month.

“Let's start now in the experimental design mode. Charging will go through the Russian Post as the agent of most shipments. Now working out the rules. Somewhere in a month he will be finally ready, ”Dvorkovich said.

Currently, the threshold for duty-free importation of goods from abroad is € 1 thousand for individuals.