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Decoding the status of international postal items. All the secrets of customs clearance of goods from China

The resignation of Andrei Belyaninov was prepared by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economic Development, and the head of Rusnano, Anatoly Chubais, will make money from it.

They probably want to put a mark on me, we won’t do this! - the head of the Customs Service, Andrei Belyaninov, who was still in force, almost shouted.

His deputies unsuccessfully tried to convince the chief to meet the demands of the leadership of the Ministry of Finance.

So the Federal Tax Service has already agreed to completely create a database and keep records,” sighs one of his deputies.

Such a dialogue, according to Life’s sources, took place at one of the meetings of the now former head of customs. There was also talk about the mandatory equipping of almost all goods imported from abroad with special RFID tags.

This decision was made at the Eurasian Economic Commission back in 2014. Although customs formally took part in its development, in fact it delayed the process as much as possible, says Life’s interlocutor from the Ministry of Economic Development. As a result, the process of introducing these tags began only in 2016, “as an experiment,” and not all the way light industry, pharmaceuticals and alcohol, as originally planned, but only for fur products. And the task of introducing the new system had to be solved by a service that was formally unrelated to customs - the Federal Tax Service.

“This was the first signal for Belyaninov, but he did not understand it,” notes one of Life’s interlocutors, close to the leadership of the Federal Customs Service.

The resistance of customs was understandable: the introduction of tags made almost any smuggling meaningless, from which, apparently, the most senior employees of the service made money.

Magic marks

RFID tags (Radio Frequency IDentification, radio frequency identification of goods) are special chips that are capable of storing data and transmitting it contactlessly using radio waves. This chip stores the entire chain of information about imported products - from the manufacturer to the final seller.

Accordingly, an inspection at a retail outlet or warehouse can determine the legality of the goods being sold. The Federal Tax Service even created special programs for phones that will help determine legality not only for inspectors, but also for ordinary buyers. Although, of course, this is primarily important for auditors: the sale of illegal goods carries a fine of 300 thousand rubles. And the Criminal Code provides for six years in prison for refusal to mark. Thus, even if a merchant is able to import contraband, selling it will be problematic: regular stores will simply refuse to sell it.

“If the goods are not marked, then the circulation of such goods will be prohibited, and thus the implementation of tax and customs legislation will be additionally ensured, and not only in the Russian Federation,” noted Deputy Minister of Finance Ilya Trunin.

Not for alcohol!

Although new system and was introduced exclusively in pilot mode (RFID tags will become mandatory only from October 1), some departments are already noting its effectiveness.

According to the Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov, with the market falling by 30% in monetary terms in 2015, the amount of customs duties paid decreased by only 7%, which is an indicator of the beginning of the whitening of the fur market. The ministry calculated that in 2015, when the discussion about introducing labeling of fur coats began, the overall growth of legally imported products was 12-15% compared to 2014.

According to Vladimir Maltsev, head of the monitoring and analysis department of the Federal Tax Service of Russia, at the end of June more than 570 thousand RFID tags were ordered, despite the fact that about 240 thousand fur products were legally imported in 2015. In total, according to the Association of Companies retail, previously about 84% of fur products were imported through smuggling.

“Despite the obvious success, the Federal Customs Service in every possible way refused to recognize the experiment as successful,” says Life’s source in the Ministry of Finance. - After all, from 2017 it is planned to extend it to pharmaceuticals and alcohol.

It is interesting that investigative actions against Belyaninov (while he is involved in the case as a witness) are taking place as part of a criminal investigation into illegal movement across the border alcoholic products V large size and non-payment of mandatory customs duties. During searches, 9.5 million rubles, $390 thousand and €350 thousand were found at the head of the Federal Customs Service.

Bases in ecstasy

Another reform, carefully torpedoed by customs, is the merger of databases between tax authorities and customs. Similar to RFID tags, this should not only lead to whitewashing of exports and imports, but also an increase in budget income (and therefore, a decrease in the income of some customs officials). The fact is that unscrupulous importers often underestimate the cost of goods even when crossing the border or clear deliveries through customs according to someone else’s type of product nomenclature, which leads to an underestimation of both customs duties and VAT. The new, unified system was supposed to track any fraud, starting from the moment the goods were imported into Russia. For Russian exporters, the unified system also promised benefits - simplified confirmation of the zero VAT rate.

Such a system was unprofitable only for customs - or rather for officials who could make money from smuggling and false exports. Moreover, there were rumors in the department that the unification of these systems was only the first stage towards the complete unification of two fiscal services into one. Customs were also not allowed to develop the supersystem; the Federal Tax Service began to deal with it.

According to the instructions of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the systems of the Federal Tax Service and the Federal Customs Service should be merged this year.

“The Federal Customs Service has slowed down and is slowing down all processes, starting from the stage of agreeing on the concept, which we were supposed to submit to the government by May 1,” says Life’s source in the Ministry of Finance. ― Created working group, there is an order from the president, but the Federal Customs Service actually does not take part in this, although in theory it should be interested in its speedy launch.

Chubais' hand

However, according to Life’s interlocutors, the efforts of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economic Development would have been defeated by the opposition of the Federal Customs Service, if not for another player who would benefit from a speedy import reform. This player was the head of Rusnano, Anatoly Chubais.

The fact is that Goznak will supply new tags, but it will be “responsible” only for printing, and the RFID tags themselves will be supplied to Goznak by Rusnano through its subsidiaries - RST-Invent LLC and Mikron PJSC.

According to the government procurement website, Goznak has already ordered from them through the “sole supplier” procedure (that is, without competition) more than 1 million tags for a total amount of more than 9 million rubles (an average of 8.2 rubles per chip).

“The purchasing price of chips in China when ordering a large batch is about 3-4 rubles per chip,” says the head of one of the commercial suppliers of RFID tags to Russia. - Accordingly, we can estimate the income of Rusnano. Of course, 1 million tags is still a fairly low turnover, which is understandable: they are now mandatory only for fur products. Once other goods join the customs system, we will be talking about hundreds of millions and even billions of tags.

Life sources do not rule out that it was Chubais who became the main lobbyist for changes in the Federal Customs Service: after all, now it’s not only about whitening the market and budget revenues, but also the opportunity to somewhat improve Rusnano’s reporting,

Whether Chubais had a hand in the resignation of the head of the Federal Customs Service or the leadership of the Ministry of Finance or the Ministry of Economic Development is not important. In any case, Belyaninov’s departure would not have happened if the Kremlin had begun to protect and defend him, despite the corruption schemes that were revealed. But the state made it clear: those officials built into the vertical who do not work for the benefit of the budget, but only line their pockets, have no place in the system, notes one of the senior government officials.

It is clear that the state is seriously concerned about filling the budget. And during the crisis, the weak link manifested itself most clearly. Thus, if in 2015 the Federal Customs Service collected 31% less into the federal budget than in 2014, the Federal Tax Service, on the contrary, increased its collections by 11%. Moreover, last year the Federal Customs Service was unable to fulfill its targets: instead of the planned 5.7 trillion rubles, it brought only 4.9 trillion to the budget. Such results, and even against the backdrop of active resistance to transparent administrative tools, make it clear to the entire state apparatus: neither past merits nor experience in the intelligence services will justify their own ineffectiveness.

Good afternoon

Many buyers of the Chinese GearBest store (and some others) have encountered the problem you described above. Parcels sent through IML (IML Express) since mid-November have been stuck at customs with the status " Russian customs - transit".

I contacted the Russian office of IML, but they were unable to comment on this situation. Russian IML receives parcels for delivery after they have cleared customs. Delivery to Russia and customs clearance postal items another company is doing it. We have no information about what kind of company this is or how to contact it.

What to do with the statuses "Russian customs - transit" and "Awaiting at the warehouse"

Unfortunately, nothing can be done about it. All that remains is to wait. When more than 90 days have passed since the order, you can contact the online store where the purchase was made and demand a full refund. After which you can buy the product again in the same or another place, if such a need arises. It is useless to call IML and swear, they are not to blame for anything and cannot do anything.

Why did this happen

We don’t know for sure, but perhaps this is due to the introduction of new rules for processing parcels at customs in Russia. Now customs officers require the recipient’s TIN and a screenshot of the product page in the online store. However, neither online stores nor IML request for this moment such information.

If you have any new interesting information regarding the situation with IML parcels - please write about it in the comments!

If you often and in large quantities order from foreign online stores, then sooner or later you will have to deal with customs clearance of incoming parcels. Such an obligation arises when the goods imported into Russia exceed the limits established by the customs authorities or there is a suspicion that the goods in the parcel are intended for commercial use.

Current customs limits

For parcels sent using government postal services(including express delivery EMS) to the address individual, as of 2019, the limit is set at 500 euros and 31 kg per month. Anything above this norm is taxed at 30% or 4 euros per kilogram of excess weight.

In what cases is it necessary to clear a parcel through customs?

Parcels are subject to customs clearance, that is, payment customs duty, V following cases:

the amount of goods in the parcel exceeded 500 euros, the delivery cost is also taken into account;
the weight of the goods exceeds 31 kg;
the contents in the parcel, according to the customs officer, are intended for sale, the so-called commercial consignment

How to find out that a parcel has been cleared through customs

Most often, the customs officer notifies the recipient by telephone, or, in extreme cases, by postal notification. According to the law, the recipient is given 15 days to make a customs payment.

After this period, a penalty is imposed for each day the parcel remains at the customs office. So if the delay in payment occurs due to late notification, it is necessary to keep this notification with the date on which it was issued and sent. This will guarantee that the recipient will not pay penalties for delays due to the fault of customs officers. And this happens not so rarely.

In case of exceeding limits, it will be easier to clear customs for those parcels whose goods are intended for personal use by the recipient himself and his close relatives. It will be much more difficult if the parcel is recognized as a commercial shipment.

There is no clear boundary between personal and commercial. Each specific customs officer will be guided by internal service rules, as well as his own opinion on this matter. Customs officers usually become suspicious when 5 or more identical items are found in a parcel.

But for whatever reason your parcel was delayed, you will have a choice:

clear the parcel through customs through an intermediary - a customs broker
do it yourself.

We will talk about these two ways to clear customs parcels from foreign online stores further.

Customs clearance of parcels through a customs broker

A customs broker is an officially accredited intermediary company that will take over all procedures related to the preparation of documents and making payments. Customs brokerage services are expensive, but sometimes it is the only option when you have little time or lack experience in communicating with customs authorities.

In case of delivery courier services DHL or FedEx You will immediately be offered to use the services of customs intermediaries for an additional fee. You have the right to accept this offer or refuse.

To start working with a broker, you will also need to sign an agreement with him and make payment under it.

If you decide to use the services of a customs broker, then it is better to agree on the amount for the services provided at the very beginning of your cooperation and write it down in the contract so that there are no unpleasant surprises later.

To work with a broker you will also need:

a printout of the online store page, which shows the product itself and its price;
bank account statement showing payment for the goods;
waybill and invoice;
copies of passport photo and registration pages;
TIN and copy of TIN;
a letter of guarantee stating that the value of the imported goods does not exceed 500 euros (if applicable in your case).

View an example of a letter of guarantee

If you refuse the services of a customs broker, then registration of all necessary documents and payment of duties falls on your shoulders.

Independent customs clearance of parcels. Favorable option

The option of independent customs clearance is suitable for people who are mobile, have free time on weekdays and are well versed in the necessary documents.

In the case of the most favorable option, when:

the parcel is delivered by the state postal service;
Customs officers have no doubt that the goods are intended for personal use and they were able to determine the value of the goods.

You will be notified of the need to pay the fee by written mail or by telephone.

1. If you were notified by a customs officer by telephone, then immediately find out from him what address and at what time you can arrive to submit documents and pay the duty.

Do not delay your visit, since storing your parcel for more than 15 days will be charged. Keep the postal notice - it will be your proof if there is a disagreement regarding the free storage period.

2. If you have received a postal notification, please call the specified phone number for information about payment of the fee. It is likely that you will be able to avoid a personal visit to customs, and the duty can be paid directly at the post office upon receipt of the parcel. This often happens when the customs authority is very far from the final recipient, for example, in another region.

Complex cases of independent customs clearance

An unfavorable option occurs if:

the parcel is delivered by courier services DHL, FedEx, or state mail, but the duty-free limits are exceeded;
customs officers suspect that the goods are intended for commercial use;
were unable to independently determine the cost of imported goods.

In this case, the sequence of actions is as follows.

By observing such simple rules, You will make your life much easier and save money for new purchases.

If you have any questions about our instructions or customs clearance of parcels: be sure to write in the comments, we will add the information you need to the article.

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The resignation of Andrei Belyaninov was prepared by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economic Development, and the head of Rusnano Anatoly Chubais will make money from it.

“They probably want to put a mark on me, we won’t do this,” almost shouted the head of the Customs Service, Andrei Belyaninov, who was still in power.

His deputies unsuccessfully tried to convince the chief to meet the demands of the leadership of the Ministry of Finance. “So the Federal Tax Service has already agreed to completely create a database and keep records,” sighs one of his deputies.

This decision was made at the Eurasian Economic Commission back in 2014. Although customs formally took part in its development, in fact it delayed the process as much as possible, says Life’s interlocutor from the Ministry of Economic Development. As a result, the process of introducing these tags began only in 2016, “as an experiment” and not for all light industry, pharmaceuticals and alcohol, as originally planned, but only for fur products. And the task of introducing the new system had to be solved by a service that was formally unrelated to customs - the Federal Tax Service.

“This was the first signal for Belyaninov, but he did not understand it,” notes one of Life’s interlocutors, close to the leadership of the Federal Customs Service.

The resistance of customs was understandable: the introduction of tags made almost any smuggling meaningless, from which, apparently, the most senior employees of the service made money.

Magic marks

Accordingly, an inspection at a retail outlet or warehouse can determine the legality of the goods being sold. The Federal Tax Service has even created special programs for phones that will help determine legality not only for inspectors, but also for ordinary buyers. Although, of course, this is primarily important for auditors: the sale of illegal goods carries a fine of 300 thousand rubles. And the Criminal Code provides for six years in prison for refusal to mark. Thus, even if a merchant is able to import contraband, selling it will be problematic: regular stores will simply refuse to sell it.

“If the goods are not marked, then the circulation of such goods will be prohibited and thus the implementation of tax and customs legislation will be additionally ensured, and not only in the Russian Federation,” noted Deputy Minister of Finance Ilya Trunin.

Not for alcohol!

Although the new system was introduced exclusively in pilot mode (RFID tags will become mandatory only from October 1), some departments are already noting its effectiveness.

According to the Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov, with the market falling by 30% in monetary terms in 2015, the amount of customs duties paid decreased by only 7%, which is an indicator of the beginning of the whitening of the fur market. The ministry calculated that in 2015, when the discussion about introducing labeling of fur coats began, the overall growth in legally imported products was 12–15% compared to 2014.

According to Vladimir Maltsev, head of the monitoring and analysis department of the Federal Tax Service of Russia, at the end of June more than 570 thousand RFID tags were ordered, despite the fact that about 240 thousand fur products were legally imported in 2015. In total, according to the Association of Retail Trade Companies, previously about 84% of fur products were imported through smuggling.

It is interesting that the investigative actions against Belyaninov (while he is involved in the case as a witness) are taking place as part of a criminal investigation into the illegal movement of alcoholic beverages across the border on a large scale and non-payment of mandatory customs duties. During searches, 9.5 million rubles, $390 thousand and €350 thousand were found at the head of the Federal Customs Service.

Bases in ecstasy

Another reform, carefully torpedoed by customs, is the merger of databases between tax authorities and customs. Similar to RFID tags, this should have led not only to the whitening of exports and imports, but also to an increase in budget revenue (and, therefore, a decrease in the income of some customs officers). The fact is that unscrupulous importers often underestimate the cost of goods even when crossing the border or clear deliveries through customs according to someone else’s type of product nomenclature, which leads to an underestimation of both customs duties and VAT. The new, unified system was supposed to track any fraud, starting from the moment the goods were imported into Russia. For Russian exporters, the unified system also promised benefits - simplified confirmation of the zero VAT rate.

According to the instructions of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the systems of the Federal Tax Service and the Federal Customs Service should be merged this year.

“The Federal Customs Service has slowed down and is slowing down all processes, starting from the stage of agreeing on the concept, which we were supposed to submit to the government by May 1,” says Life’s source in the Ministry of Finance. - A working group has been created, there is an order from the president, but the Federal Customs Service actually does not take part in this, although it is they who, in theory, should be interested in its speedy launch.

Chubais' hand

The fact is that Gosznak will supply new tags, but it itself will be “responsible” only for printing; the RFID tags themselves will be supplied to Goznak by Rusnano through its subsidiaries - RST-INVENT LLC and Mikron PJSC.

According to the government procurement website, Gosznak has already ordered from them through the “sole supplier” procedure (that is, without competition) more than 1 million tags for a total amount of more than 9 million rubles (an average of 8.2 rubles per chip).

“The purchasing price of chips in China when ordering a large batch is about 3-4 rubles per chip,” says the head of one of the commercial suppliers of RFID tags to Russia. - Accordingly, we can estimate the income of Rusnano. Of course, 1 million tags is still a fairly low turnover, which is understandable - for now they are mandatory only for fur products. Once other goods join the customs system, we will be talking about hundreds of millions and even billions of tags.

Before you start ordering a particular product from China, each of you should know what can and cannot be sent by mail from abroad.

Carefully study the list of goods prohibited for import into Russia. Then you will not have problems with the Customs Service and the Post Office.

The information provided below is true and official. Everything is taken from the website of the Federal Customs Service and Russian Post. I just added clarifications to some points.

Goods prohibited for import into Russia:

Alcohol products. This includes vodka, beer, cognac, whiskey, etc. In general, everything that contains ethyl alcohol.
Tobacco products: cigarettes and smoking mixtures.
Products subject to rapid spoilage. This category of goods includes food products, but not all. For example, noodles and soups instant cooking will be allowed through customs because... they have long term storage
Aquatic extraction (catch) gear biological resources . This includes electric fishing rods and fishing nets with a thread diameter of less than 0.5 mm and mesh sizes of less than 100 mm.
Live animals, with the exception of bees, leeches, silkworms.
Plants in any form and condition, plant seeds. It’s worth arguing a little about the seeds; parcels with them passed through customs without hindrance (many people ordered). If you are planning to order seeds, remember that it is illegal.
Technical spy tools/devices. For example, objects with a hidden video camera, or listening devices. For example, a criminal case was opened against one grandfather. He ordered spy glasses to photograph his grandchildren - .
Counterfeit and pirated items.
Weapon: gunshot, traumatic, cold, etc. Here the question arises: “Can I order knives?” I answer: “It’s possible”! It is written about how to determine whether a knife is a bladed weapon -.
Separate parts of weapons, cartridges and their parts. For example, it is prohibited to order arrows for bows and crossbows. The same applies to tips and other components arrow
Batteries and accumulators. This is a controversial point. Many people ordered similar products and received them by mail without any problems.
Explosive, flammable substances. Let me explain this point this way: it is prohibited to order lighters.
Human organs and (or) tissues, blood and its components.
Laser pointers more powerful than 1 W.
Printed and audiovisual materials containing calls for the implementation of extremist and terrorist activities, propaganda of Nazism, etc. information that may harm political or economic interests Russian Federation, its state security, health and morality of citizens.
Precious stones in any form and condition, natural diamonds, excluding jewelry. It is not prohibited to order costume jewelry, jewelry made of gold/silver and other precious metals.
Banknotes of the Russian Federation and foreign currency.
Narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their precursors, including in the form of medicines.
Radioactive, toxic substances and hazardous waste.
Ozone Depleting Substances.
Honey products.
Cultural values.

Products conditionally accepted for shipment:

Information about goods conditionally accepted for shipment was taken from the RUSSIAN POST and Customs website.

Items conditionally admitted for shipment are those items that are not completely prohibited, but their receipt requires appropriate permission from state control authorities.

Encryption (cryptographic) tools and devices that have encryption (cryptography) functions. Some printers, pocket recording machines, cash registers, etc. WITH full list Products in this category can be found -.
Radio-electronic devices and (or) high-frequency devices for civilian use, including those built-in or included in other goods. Some household microwave ovens, radio stations, children's intercoms, etc. A complete list of products in this category can be found -.
Bees, leeches, silkworms, which are sent with a veterinary certificate.

The most important - YOU CANNOT ORDER GOODS FROM THE PROHIBITED LIST . Do not attract the attention of customs officials. Otherwise you will get yourself into a lot of trouble. They can also open a criminal case.

In conclusion of this article I would like to say one more thing::

If you want to order a product that at the slightest sign may fall under one of the items in the above list, REFUSE TO MAKE THIS PURCHASE.
Do not buy those goods, the free sale of which is prohibited in your country.

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