The number of parcels from China has increased, and accordingly this has become the reason for tightening the rules for their duty-free import into Belarus in order to prevent commercial purchases on the Aliexpress website and not only.
From April 14, 2016, residents of the Republic of Belarus should be careful about orders from abroad. Even if you bought a small mobile gadget at a huge discount and did not exceed 22 euros. If a mobile phone is indicated on the parcel and its value is supposedly underestimated, the customs service may open the incoming international mail. We wrote about various ways to avoid paying tax in the article. Read on to try to avoid further paperwork and additional costs to the state.
But now, you still received a notification from the customs authorities.
How will the tax be paid if the limit of twenty-two euros is exceeded?
In this case your parcel is on its way to the customs temporary storage warehouse. After this, you will receive a notification letter asking you to provide evidence of the value of the goods, or asking you to agree that the customs service will independently assess the value of your parcel and most likely it will be at the market price.
What you need to send to customs:
- sales receipt (usually, at your request, the seller sends it in the parcel, along with the goods);
- payment receipt (print it when you make a payment, or look for it in your email; some electronic payment systems duplicate such data when making a payment);
- an extract from the card account about payment with a bank mark (with details). This method will not help if you made other purchases on the same day, since the amount will actually be more than this order;
- take a screenshot of the screen and print it out, where you can see the cost of the order and all its data;
- write an explanatory note indicating the circumstances of such a low purchase price.
The documents will need to be urgently sent by mail (preferably by registered mail with notification) to the address: National Airport Minsk, 86, 220054, Minsk.
The storage period for your parcel is calculated from the day following the day of registration by the customs authority of the documents submitted for placing the goods in temporary storage and is two months.
In case of failure to provide documents and information, a declaration for goods (if required), or the expiration of the temporary storage period for goods, as well as the return of the Notification with the note “there are no documents, please evaluate the goods sent by international mail yourself,” the parcel will be returned to the sender .
So, you want to receive your order and all the documents you have regarding it, you have sent it. After some time, you will receive a notification from the post office that you need to pick up the parcel. If the customs service provided your circumstances were not taken into account , you receive the parcel and a customs receipt order, fill out the form for payment of cash on delivery. Now you will have to pay at your post office the tax amount calculated by customs (30% of the parcel amount) and a customs fee of 5 euros.
At the end of the week, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that the EurAsEC countries had finally agreed on the thresholds for duty-free online trade. And it seems that this is good news for Belarusian shoppers.
WHAT'S HAPPENED
February 2 Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev reported that the EurAsEC countries agreed and made a decision: the thresholds for duty-free online trade will change. And while residents of Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are unlikely to be happy about this news, Belarusians and Armenians can breathe a sigh of relief.
Currently, the duty-free import thresholds in the EAEU countries are not unified: in Belarus - 22 euros, in Armenia - 150 dollars, in Kazakhstan and Russia - 1 thousand euros, in Kyrgyzstan - 1 thousand dollars.
“From January 1, 2019, the threshold is set at 500 euros, and from January 1, 2020, at 200 euros. The Interfax agency quotes Medvedev, who made a statement at a press conference following the meeting of the heads of government of the EurAsEC countries.
WHY BELARUS INTRODUCED THE 22 EURO STANDARD
Limits on parcels from abroad and the import of goods from abroad were introduced in Belarus on April 14, 2016. The most important reason that the Belarusian authorities appealed to when changing the norm was a significant increase in the volume of import of goods on a commercial scale to individuals without paying customs duties.
Since that time, an ordinary Belarusian has the right to receive goods from abroad by mail for no more than 22 euros and weighing no more than 10 kilograms per month. If the limit is exceeded, the duty will be 30% of the customs value of the goods, but not less than 4 euros per kilogram.
As a result, in 2016, Belarusians received 12.7 million international postal items, and only 1% of them, according to the State Customs Committee, exceeded the limit of 22 euros.
AND WHAT CAME OUT OF THIS
Belarusians quickly realized that they could order parcels through Russia - as a result, the State Customs Committee made a statement that such schemes were illegal, and some merchants.
It would seem that everyone should be happy: according to officials, Belarusian manufacturers and large domestic online stores benefited from the limits. Like ordinary Belarusians: “There was a certain surge at the stage when changes were taking place. But today everything has returned to normal. Anyone who wants to purchase things for personal use of insignificant value does so without any problems,” assured the Chairman of the State Customs Committee in March 2016 Yuri Senko.
However, in the summer of 2017, the then Deputy Minister of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade Irina Narkevich, that since the introduction of limits on parcels, Belpochta has lost a fairly large amount of money.
“We knew that there would be a redistribution of the flow of goods to the territory of Russia - the post offices of the Bryansk and Smolensk regions are now actively working for Belarus. Therefore, the post office is now actively initiating the return of the previous limit amounts.”
Parcel processing point at the post office.
SO WILL THE STANDARDS INCREASE IN BELARUS OR NOT?
At the end of 2017, the first deputy chairman of the State Customs Committee of Belarus Vladimir Orlovsky stated: in the EAEU countries, the norms for duty-free import of goods will gradually decrease and will change in 2018. Judging by the statements of Dmitry Medvedev, the schedule for reducing (and for Belarusians increasing) the standards for importing goods is a done deal.
It remains to be seen exactly when the changes will take place and whether we will be able to place orders on Asos and AliExpress for at least a year in the amount of 500 euros.
By the way, Vladimir Orlovsky clarified: EAEU member countries have the right to set limits on duty-free import of goods at a lower level than agreed upon. So maybe we rejoice early...
When ordering goods from foreign online stores, the first thing the buyer should know is the customs limits of their country. Although Belarus and Russia are members of the Unified Customs Union, the limits of postal items per recipient in our countries are completely different. This article provides customs restrictions for Belarus, Russia and Ukraine for postal items through state postal services and through courier services.
For Belarus
one calendar month to one recipient goods can be moved for personal use within an amount equivalent to 22 euros (the limit is valid from October 25, 2014). Date X is considered the date of receipt of the postal item in our country (arrival at the temporary storage warehouse - temporary storage warehouse, do not confuse it with the date of receipt of the parcel at the post office).
Goods for personal use, imported into the customs territory of the Republic of Belarus through courier services (DHL, UPS, FedEx, TNT, etc.) during one calendar month to one recipient, are not subject to customs duties up to an amount equivalent to 22 euros
(the limit is valid from October 25, 2014). However, these shipments must be independently cleared (declared) in the territory Airport Minsk-2
, as well as pay for storage at a temporary storage warehouse and customs clearance fee - 5 euros. You can also entrust the declaration procedure to licensed customs brokers, for example - (the service is provided for a fee).
ATTENTION! On February 11, the President of the Republic of Belarus signed Decree No. 40 on changing the customs limit threshold to 22 euros . The decree will come into force on April 14, 2016.
Goods for personal use- these are goods intended for personal, family, household and other non-business needs of individuals.
If these limits are exceeded - 22 euros - you must pay 30%
Not limited number of parcels per calendar month, only their total cost is limited to 22 euros.
Payment of customs duties on postal items via state postal services are carried out at your post office, via courier - at Minsk-2 Airport.
Since the exact equivalent of the cost of the parcel is determined according to the exchange rate of the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus at the time of customs inspection, which is very difficult to predict in advance, highly recommended when making a purchase and calculating the limit leave a small cash reserve to currency exchange rate fluctuations.
Link to the website of the Customs Committee - gtk.gov.by
Addresses and contact numbers of customs authorities - gtk.gov.by
Guidelines for determining the purpose of goods - gtk.gov.by
Restrictions on the import and export of certain types of goods for personal use - gtk.gov.by
For Russia
Duty free from abroad within one calendar month to one recipient in international mail (state postal services and EMS) goods can be moved for personal use(except for indivisible goods) within an amount equivalent to 1000 euros and maximum weight - 31kg. Source - Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 446 of June 17, 2010 (p. 44, paragraph 16).
If these limits are exceeded, you must pay 30% customs duty on the excess amount, but not less than 4 euros per kg.
Regarding courier services, the situation is approximately as follows (it is better to clarify further in the representative offices of these services in the Russian Federation):
UPS courier service- purchase price limit for individuals - 200 euros.
Courier service DHL- suspended delivery for individuals; only a small list of stores remained available to individuals.
FedEx courier service- you can receive for Moscow for an amount up to 200 euros, and for all other cities/regions for 75 $.
Now in 2019, the so-called tax on parcels from China and other countries to Belarus works clearly and is 100% efficient. The only good news is that Alexander Lukashenko signed decree No. 490 “On customs regulation” on December 22, 2018, which slightly improved the situation for shopaholics.
The new law increases the monthly norm for duty-free import of goods into Belarus for personal use in international postal items from 22 euros and 10 kg to 200 euros and 31 kg (in total), while maintaining the one-time norm for one item in the amount of 22 euros and 10 kg.
So how much can I buy from abroad?
The one-time limit for one parcel remains the same - up to 22 euros!!! But in total, you can order 200 euros worth of such parcels in a month without consequences.
Orders that do not meet the established limit are not prohibited, but the amount exceeding this limit is subject to customs tax. In addition, it will become mandatory to pay a fixed customs fee, usually in the amount of five euros.
What will happen to me if I exceeded the order limits from AliExpress and other foreign stores?
Payments for parcels to individuals that exceed the total norm of 200 euros per month are considered commercial consignments of goods and are therefore subject to a customs duty of 30% of the excess price.
And let's not get confused! Additionally, you must pay customs duty. Its value depends on the type of product. For example, you need to pay an additional 5 euros for a telephone (and for most of your orders the additional payment will be exactly that).
Parcel duty calculator
Our customs duties calculator for parcels will easily help you calculate the amount of tax per shipment of 22 euros and 10 kg (not to be confused with the new total monthly limit of 200 euros).
Just indicate the price for the parcel and its weight. Please note that all calculations are provided for informational purposes only.
Also, the calculation of customs tax can be easily calculated manually without a calculator for parcels from abroad:
- For example, the price of the parcel: 100 euros and weight: 2 kg (no more than 10 kg);
- Excess: 100 – 22 = 78 euros;
- 30% of the amount received is 23.4 euros;
- Customs duty – 5 euros;
- The total duty on the parcel will be: 23.4 + 5 = 28.4 euros.
If there is an excess in weight, and not in cost, it will be even easier to calculate: 4 euros per 1 kg in excess of 10 allowed. All these restrictions apply to any foreign online stores: Aliexpress, EBay, ASOS, Amazon, iHerb, Shein and many others.
Where and how to pay tax on parcels in Belarus?
You can check with your postal operator about customs duties. The fee is paid at the delivery point of the RUE "Belpochta".
Limits and duties on parcels in Belarus are a kind of protection of the domestic market from the cheapest imports from China, the USA and other countries. Plus a method of taxation of citizens who purchase goods for commercial purposes.
These limits are directed against foreign online stores, so that ordering from Aliexpress to Belarus would be unprofitable. Moreover, all parcels from foreign countries are in this situation (even gifts from relatives from abroad are subject to tax).
Prime Minister of Belarus Mikhail Myasnikovich spoke about the harm of foreign mail to the country's economy and that this is illegal enrichment. Such statements met with a lot of criticism, because most imported products are not produced or even sold in Belarus.
In the end, they remembered the “transparency” of the internal borders of the Customs Union. Recipients of commercial goods or expensive parcels will order them to Russia or another CU country and pay for shipping to Belarus.
We warn you that deliberately reducing the cost of a parcel is a thankless task. Customs owns the price range of many popular products!
How to track a parcel from China (and other countries) to Belarus? There is such an opportunity on the official website of Belposhta.
All registered foreign and local postal items are tracked using a special track number.
Postal code markings:
- R-BY (Rx012345675BY) – small correspondence;
- C—BY (Cx012345675BY) – standard package;
- E-BY (Ex012345675BY) – international express correspondence EMS;
- A—BY (Ax012345675BY) is our internal mail of the Republic of Belarus.
It is very easy to track your parcel on the Belposhta website. Either immediately follow this link: https://webservices.belpost.by/searchRu.aspx, or find the item “Mail tracking” in the left menu and click on it.
On the page that opens there is a form for entering the parcel departure number. We enter the track number received on the website of a foreign or local online store and click the “Search” button.
When do you need to pay the duty?
If the status of the parcel contains the inscription “For transfer to customs, it is necessary to clarify the data,” you will have to indicate detailed information in the “Form to fill out” field, otherwise the shipment will be sent back to the seller. Customs needs this data when recording shipments received by an individual from abroad within a month within the limit of 200 euros.
Information about customs checks and fees (30% of exceeding the limit plus 5 euros for documentation) will be available on a new page.
Watch the video below: How are parcels from abroad checked?
Paid parcel storage
From February 1, 2018, Belposhta branches will charge a fee for storing international items. Information about this was published on their official website.
If any international parcel is not claimed for more than 7 calendar days at Belposhta branches, you need to pay 0.36 BYN. rubles for each day of delay.
As you know, duty-free import of parcels from abroad to Belarus is limited to a one-time rate of 22 euros and 10 kg per shipment. And in total per month up to 200 euros and 31 kg.
There are 3 popular options to avoid this limit.
1. Ask the seller to indicate a lower price for goods
You can just come to an agreement. And the sender will indicate the lowest price for the product. For example, 20 dollars for a Chinese phone with a real cost of $150.
But keep in mind that customs officers evaluate the parcel in their own way. They calculate the average price of the goods in the country from which the parcel arrived and set the current price tag. In this case, an examination will be appointed.
And after it, you will still have to pay customs duties for parcels to Belarus from the same AliExpress or American iHerb. But to do this, they will have to open each package, which will delay processing for years to come. Surely no one will do that!
2. Order parcels for friends in another country
You can also consider an order for a resident (relative or friend) of the Customs Union country (,), who will send it to you from there. And these costs will be much lower than the duty.
Or order a parcel to a Russian office “on demand” somewhere in the border zone of the Smolensk or Bryansk region. Thus, you can bypass the Belarusian limit. A very popular method especially among those who live near Russia.
3. Mail Forwarding came to Belarus together with AlmostPochta
Mail Forwarding (or “Your address abroad”, hereinafter abbreviated as MF) is a service of using the warehouse address of an intermediary company when making a purchase abroad yourself. This is paid, but the price is much less than the fee. Please note that the address is chosen in the countries of the Customs Union in order to avoid paying tax.
Before you use one of the tips, remember a simple rule: any attempt to circumvent the law can result in trouble.
The best online stores with delivery to Belarus
These are the best shopping malls you don't have to worry about! Your parcels will definitely arrive, there will be no fraud with bank cards or unexpected additional fees during ordering.
- Aliexpress.com is the most popular online store among Belarusians! People can order clothes, shoes, gadgets, cosmetics, perfumes, toys, jewelry, dishes, household goods and thousands of other items from Aliexpress. Aliexpress unites hundreds of thousands of sellers from different parts of China and other countries, resulting in insane competition with very low prices for all goods. There are both paid and free AliExpress delivery to Belarus, on average 2-4 weeks.
- iHerb.com is the most popular online store from the USA, specializing in environmentally friendly products, vitamins and organic cosmetics of impeccable quality. Regular discounts and the absence of intermediaries during purchases make prices for many goods significantly lower than in local stores. iHerb delivers orders all over the world, including Belarus. Read more about ordering on iHerb.
- Shein.com
is one of the world's leading online stores of fashionable clothing and accessories. Shein is an incredible find for girls! Fashionable dresses, tops, skirts, jeans, jewelry - your eyes will run wild at the variety of styles, trends, colors and original design solutions. Delivery from the Shein store to Belarus is very fast and economical. See all the details on the official website in Russian. - eBay.com
is a major global online auction with tens of millions of simultaneously auctioned lots in more than 3 thousand categories. eBay has about thirty branches around the world. The strength of the site is the eBay purchase protection system with payment via PayPal. The buyer will be able to get a refund for everything, including shipping, if the item was received in poor condition. - Amazon.com
is the largest hypermarket offering absolutely everything with worldwide delivery from the USA. In the Amazon online store you can buy both food products and industrial machines for production. Belarusians order Kindle e-books, small household appliances, children's toys, food, household goods, sports equipment and much more.
What do we have? Top 10 popular Belarusian online stores
Among the well-known Belarusian hypermarkets operating online, we can highlight several of the most reliable and time-tested ones. They offer quality products and affordable payment methods without additional fees or customs obligations.
Lamoda is one of the popular clothing and footwear stores in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. The range of products is quite wide - outerwear, underwear, blouses, tops, skirts, trousers, dresses, shoes and much more. The store's catalogs present various collections of inexpensive and premium brand brands. Lamoda offers its customers constant discounts and sends many promotional codes that pleasantly reduce the prices of goods. Free delivery with try-on at home for up to 7 items.- – hypermarket of equipment, electronics, goods for auto, garden and personal hygiene. It has been operating on the Belarusian market for 15 years. Often products can be purchased at attractive discounts. 21st Century provides its clients with a wide range of payment options - cash, non-cash, bank cards and installment cards. Delivery of goods within Belarus is free for orders over 75 rubles. For a smaller purchase amount, the goods will be delivered for a fee, or you can pick them up for free from a pick-up point.
5 Element is a leading home appliances and electronics store with a wide range of products. The bonus program will be interesting for regular customers. The store offers online payment by bank cards, through the ERIP system, cash upon delivery or pickup. You can also purchase in installments or on credit. Goods over 50 rubles, ordered online or by phone, will be delivered free of charge throughout Belarus, or it can be picked up in one of the many offline stores of the 5 Element network.
Kit.by is a large online store of plumbing and related products: bathroom furniture, kitchen products, tiles. There is a nice bonus program. You can pay for the ordered goods in various ways: online, through ERIP, by bank transfer, in cash upon courier delivery, as well as with bank cards in installments. Orders for a large amount are delivered free of charge, for a small amount - for a fee, there is the possibility of self-pickup in Minsk.
Xiaomi Belarus is a mono-brand online store of a popular Chinese brand. It presents a fairly modest assortment of fashionable gadgets, accessories and other Xiaomi products. The ordered product can be paid in various ways - cash, online by bank card or some installment cards, through ERIP and from a mobile phone account. You can pick up your order at a pick-up point, or from a courier - with paid or free delivery.
i-Store is the only official partner of Apple in Belarus with Apple Premium Reseller status. At low prices you can buy an iPhone, Mac computer or iPad tablet, as well as other Apple equipment and accessories for it. Pickup is free from the i-Store store (Minsk, Lenin St., 5 or Pobediteley Ave., 9 or Pritytskogo St., 156), own delivery by courier in Minsk or delivery throughout Belarus by Autolight Express service.
By 2019, the limit on parcels from abroad will gradually increase to 200 euros per month. Deputy Minister of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade Irina Narkevich announced this on June 8 at a round table on electronic commerce.
Photo: Alexander Vasyukovich, TUT.BY
According to Irina Narkevich, since the introduction of limits on parcels, Belposhta has lost a fairly large amount of money.
We knew that there would be a redistribution of the flow of goods to the territory of Russia - the post offices of the Bryansk and Smolensk regions are now actively working for Belarus. Therefore, the post office is now actively initiating the return of the previous limits,” said the deputy minister.
The return to the limit of 200 euros per month will occur gradually until 2019. As Irina Narkevich notes, an immediate return to the previous amounts is impossible. The deputy minister also does not name specific dates for increasing the limits:
This issue is currently being discussed jointly with the State Customs Committee. They proposed this option: so that the total amount of parcels per month does not exceed 200 euros, and the cost of one remains at 22 euros. That is, a person will be able to order more things duty-free.
Let us remind you that limits on parcels from abroad and the import of goods from abroad were introduced on April 14, 2016. The reason for tightening the limits on duty-free import of goods was a significant increase in the volume of import of goods on a commercial scale to individuals without paying customs duties. Over the past year, Belarusians received 12.7 million international postal items and only 1% of them, according to data reported by the State Customs Committee, exceeded the limit of 22 euros. Belarusians paid 2.4 million rubles last year for exceeding the limits.
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