Individuals will be able to continue to receive low value international parcels from other individuals without paying taxes. The Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, said this Tuesday (18) that the government no longer intends to end the exemption from Import Tax for goods worth up to US$ 50 for transactions between individuals.
According to the minister, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva asked for the retreat in a meeting at the Palácio da Alvorada this Monday (17th) evening. According to Haddad, Lula guided the economic team to seek other solutions to put an end to tax evasion websites international companies that circumvent rules to avoid paying the tax.
The minister reiterated that the exemption applies only to transactions between individuals, not between a company and an individual. Haddad informed that the government intends to increase inspection and tax companies, mainly Asian, that split orders and falsify senders from individuals in order to obtain the exemption.
“The president asked us yesterday to try to resolve this from an administrative point of view. In other words, curb smuggling. We know that there is a company that practices this unfair competition, harming all other companies, both in e-commerce and in the stores that are open there, suffering from unfair competition from that company”, declared the Minister of Finance to journalists.
According to Haddad, the president asked that inspection by the Federal Revenue Service be strengthened without the need to change the current rule. “[O presidente Lula disse que] this was causing confusion because it could harm people who, in good faith, receive orders from abroad up to that level, which is an old rule.”
recoil
The Ministry of Finance reversed the measure one day after the secretary of the Federal Revenue, Robinson Barreirinhas, declared that the economic team did not intend to review the question. In an interview this Monday, the secretary had also ruled out a compromise, such as a lower rate than the 60% Import Tax for purchases in websites foreigners.
With the reversal, the government will have to find another option to reinforce the necessary revenues to eliminate the primary deficit (a negative result in the government accounts without interest on the public debt) next year, as foreseen in the new fiscal framework, whose bill supplement will be sent this Tuesday to the National Congress. In all, the government needs BRL 155 billion in revenue next year, of which BRL 7 billion to BRL 8 billion would come from the end of the exemption for international transactions between individuals.
Companies
The minister said that it will not be easy to reinforce inspection of international orders by the Federal Revenue Service, which is currently carried out on a sample basis. “It won’t be easy because this loophole is being used in bad faith. Everyone knows it’s in bad faith. Yesterday, I received a call, just to give you an idea, I spoke with the president of the National Confederation of Commerce, CEOs of retail chains, everyone very concerned about unfair competition”, he declared.
Haddad, however, stated that some websites foreigners, including Asians, are willing to collaborate in the effort. “Yesterday we received [representantes da] Ali Express, in person, and we received a letter from Shopee, saying that they agree with the regulation of the terms of what the Ministry of Finance intends. Because they think it’s an unfair practice and they don’t want to get mixed up with who is committing a tax crime,” she said.
The economic team, informed Haddad, will verify inspection experiences applied in other countries, such as the United States, China itself and the European Union, to combat irregularities in international electronic commerce.
The end of the exemption for orders of up to US$ 50 between individuals had been announced last week, in the midst of measures to reinforce inspection of electronic commerce. Last Wednesday (12), the Ministry of Finance clarified that the measure did not foresee the creation of taxes, because international electronic commerce is already taxed at 60%.
