"The accounting department will have to synchronize the data of customs declarations on VAT with tax registers" — this is not a wish, it is a requirement. Desk inspections of the Federal Tax Service for discrepancies are already underway, and the fines for them are real.
What exactly has changed
The base VAT rate from 2026 is 22%. Preferential rates (10% and 0%) remained in place for certain categories.
The estimated rate is applied when selling goods to individuals through marketplaces and online stores when VAT is included in the price. New rate: 18.03% (22/122). The previous rate was 16.67% (20/120). The difference is almost 1.4 percentage points. For shipments of goods for 10 million rubles, this is 140 thousand rubles of additional load.
The maximum customs duty has increased from 30,000 to 74,000 rubles (Government Decree No. 1638 dated 10/23/2025). This is a fee for customs clearance of large shipments — not a duty, but a fixed fee for declaration.
What does this mean for sellers on marketplaces
Marketplaces are tax agents. The calculation of VAT on the sale of imported goods to individuals through Ozon and Wildberries is carried out by the platform itself. But the seller must correctly reflect this in his accounting.
If the seller keeps records at the old rate of 16.67%, he underestimates the tax base. During the desk check, this discrepancy between the marketplace's declaration and the seller's tax registers becomes the basis for additional charges.
Practical actions
Update the templates of primary documents — invoices, acts, invoices — with a new rate. Recalculate the financial models for current supplies: an increase of 1.4 percentage points may lead to negative positions with low margins. Synchronize data with an accountant or external bookkeeping service. Take into account the increase in the maximum customs duty in the cost calculation for high-value shipments.
