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The planned task for transfers to the budget for the Federal Customs Service of Russia this year will be increased compared to 2023 and will amount to more than 7 trillion rubles. The Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation Anton Siluanov announced this at an expanded meeting of the Board of the customs service on March 21. He called such an indicator ambitious, noting that the department will be able to fulfill it by expanding customs administration and "mobilizing the capabilities" of the Ministry of Finance and the Federal Customs Service. In 2023, the customs authorities transferred 6.6 trillion rubles to the treasury, exceeding the plan by 159 billion rubles.

As concrete measures to achieve the planned targets, Mr. Siluanov outlined the suppression of gray schemes for importing high-margin goods (cars, electronics, equipment) into the country by strengthening the work of mobile groups of the Federal Customs Service, as well as increasing the number of simplified customs corridors with friendly countries and increasing information exchange. In addition, it is necessary to identify schemes for evading indirect taxes when importing goods from the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) to companies that do not carry out real economic activities, he added.

In 2022-2023, goods worth more than $70 billion were imported into Russia through parallel imports, First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Andrei Belousov noted at a meeting of the Presidential Council for Strategic Development and National Projects in December last year.

Russia's trade turnover by the end of 2023 decreased by 16%, amounting to $710 billion (in 2022 – $ 848 billion), said acting head of the Federal Customs Service Ruslan Davydov. The main reason for the drop, he said, was a 28% decline in exports due to falling energy prices. In total, in 2023, Russia exported goods worth $425 billion, while a year earlier it exported $525.5 billion. At the same time, imports increased both in value and in kind (by 11 and 7.9%, respectively) and reached $285 billion, or 120 million tons. Most of the funds transferred to the budget – 4.9 trillion rubles, or 74% - accounted for imports and 1.3 trillion (21%) for exports, another 303 billion (5%) were other revenues.

According to the results of two and a half months of this year, the Federal Customs Service provided budget revenues in the amount of 1.4 trillion rubles, Davydov told reporters. At the same time, according to him, during this period imports decreased by 6-7% compared to the same period last year. As the main reason, he cited a slowdown in the pace of deliveries due to the celebration of the New Year in China, which is Russia's main foreign trade partner.

What to expect from foreign trade this year

The basic scenario of the Ministry of Economy assumes that by the end of 2024 exports will reach $471 billion, imports – $319 billion, in 2025 – $481 billion and $326 billion, respectively, follows from the forecast of socio-economic development for 2024-2026. The main risk for exporters remains a slowdown in the global economy and, as a result, a decrease in demand for traditional Russian exports, analysts at the ministry noted.

In January – February 2024, Russia exported goods worth $60.8 billion, which is 2.4% less than in the same period of 2023, but 6.6% more than in January – February 2021, VTB chief economist Rodion  Latypov calculated at the request of Vedomosti on the basis of mirror statistics. Imports also decreased compared to the beginning of the previous year – in the first two months of 2024, it amounted to $43.8 billion (a decline of 4.8%), while compared to 2021, the growth is 16%, he notes.

According to Latypov, the biggest impact on export performance was caused by increased discounts on Russian oil and temporary problems with its physical volumes (starting in March 2023, Russia is reducing oil production, and since August, its exports as part of agreements with several OPEC+ participants. – "Vedomosti"). Imports in 2023 and early 2024 are gradually slowing down due to a decrease in economic activity and domestic demand, Latypov says.

Despite minor changes in the configurations of Russia's foreign trade relations with partner countries, the overall situation has stabilized since the second half of 2023. China remains Russia's most important trading partner, therefore, the celebration of the New Year there traditionally affects the performance of our country. In 2024, the "failure" turned out to be stronger than last year, he notes, without giving specific values. Despite the leading role of the PRC in Russia's foreign trade, there are still opportunities for further increase in Chinese exports, including by eliminating existing logistical constraints, believes Salnikov. For Russia, the Chinese market is "immense," the expert believes.

What violations are to be identified by the Federal Customs Service

 "Gray Import" is a broad concept, which, as a rule, means the import of goods at an undervalued cost as a result of an unreliable declaration (specifying incorrect characteristics, HS code, country of origin, etc.), says SEAMLESS Legal partner Gaik Safaryan.

The very idea of the EAEU is the absence of customs borders and the freedom of movement of goods within it – businesses have the opportunity to choose in which country to carry out customs "clearance", explains Alexander Kirilchenko, head of the practice of customs law and international trade at BGP litigation. At the same time, there is a difference in approaches and in the cost of registration in different countries of the union. In addition, the EAEU member states do not have a common customs value control system, which can create imbalances in its determination, he adds.

In practice, goods imported to Russia from the EAEU can be processed in any of the countries of the union both in full compliance with the rules and with violations, said Mikhail Shavernev, a lawyer for disputes with customs. When importing goods, the seller and the buyer must provide the customs authorities of their state with a statistical form, which is formed in parallel with the primary accounting documents used, among other things, for calculating and paying import VAT. At the same time, goods that have already been imported into the union states can go to Russia without paying VAT, says Shavernev. According to him, the Federal Customs Service has been consistently fighting against such movement of goods for a long time, including with the help of mobile teams. Since 2022, they have been granted the right to independently inspect vehicles throughout Russia.

The lack of customs control within the EAEU creates many opportunities for using various schemes to evade payment of necessary fees, says Ruslan Zafesov, Managing partner of ZE Lawgic Legal Solutions. Since the obligation to pay import VAT is imposed on the owner of the goods (i.e. the Russian buyer company), if it turns out to be fictitious and goes bankrupt soon after delivery, the budget does not receive the tax due to it, he explains.

Source: https://www.vedomosti.ru/economics/articles/2024/03/22/1027192-kak-fts-smozhet-uskorit-postuplenie-platezhei-v-byudzhet?utm_campaign=newspaper_22_3_2024&utm_medium=email&utm_source=vedomosti