"Leveling" of increased customs duties, difficulties with payment agents, and other foreign economic activity issues
A conference for specialists in the field of customs law and foreign economic activity was held in Moscow, organized by the Internet publication PRAVO.ru.
Representatives from law firms, including MAGENTA Legal, as well as businesses that regularly face various difficulties in the area of foreign economic activity participated in the event. Below are some details regarding some of these issues.
Increase in import customs duties on goods from "unfriendly" countries
The rise in duties for products from most or all "unfriendly" states (for example, the recent changes regarding perfumes) leads to financial losses for both the direct counterparties of "unfriendly" suppliers and Russian consumers.
Particular attention should be paid to related parties. Attempting to circumvent the rise in duties and the resulting price increase through a reduction in customs value, calculated using the primary method—the transaction value method—to levels that "offset" the new duty is likely to be perceived by the Federal Customs Service as intentional undervaluation. This may not only result in amendments to the customs declaration regarding the goods' value and the amount of duty but also carry liability (Article 16.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation). Surprisingly, there are already judicial decisions demonstrating this seemingly non-obvious approach.
Agency payment schemes with "unfriendly" counterparties—risk of increased customs value
There are not many alternative options for making payments: some of them (for example, digital financial assets) do not work, while others (agency schemes) may lead to disputes with the Federal Customs Service. In the latter case, there is uncertainty regarding the necessity of including in the customs value the expenses for paying the agent's fees for transferring money from the buyer within the framework of the supply. The Ministry of Finance and the Federal Customs Service have differing positions on this issue, which inevitably leads to disputes.
No signs of liberalization of special regulation
Legislation has already been established and leads to numerous court disputes in which courts recognize transactions as invalid and deny claims in cases of violations of special regulatory norms.
Notable cases include:
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the prosecutor's office contesting the donation of a share in an LLC made by an "unfriendly" participant
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refusal to pay "unfriendly" heirs the actual value of the share of a deceased LLC participant without the approval of the Standing Commission
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disputing the assignment of debt for settling with an "unfriendly" counterparty, and others
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MAGENTA Legal lawyers have many years of experience in advising in the sphere of foreign economic activity (FEA), including issues of compliance with the legislation on currency regulation and currency control. For more than 10 years of our practice, none of our clients has been brought to administrative responsibility for violation of currency legislation in any of our projects. Managing Partner Anton Shamatonov is a recommended lawyer in the field of foreign trade (according to the authoritative rating of law firms PRAVO-300 2019, 2020, 2021, 2024).