The Federal Customs Service and business discussed penalties, advances, and improvements to the Personal Account of the Foreign Economic Activity

The meeting was chaired by Sergey Shklyaev, Deputy Head of the Federal Customs Service of Russia. The central topic was the law enforcement practice of charging penalties in two situations: when the importer's account already has advance payments sufficient to repay the debt, and when the debt arose during the period of the moratorium on bankruptcy proceedings.

The business insists that charging penalties if there is a sufficient advance is devoid of economic sense — the customs actually already has the money. The Federal Customs Service agreed to study the issue more deeply and, following the meeting, agreed to work it out jointly with the Russian Ministry of Finance, taking into account accumulated law enforcement and judicial practice. The specific dates and parameters of possible changes have not yet been determined.

The second block concerned the Personal Account of the participant of the foreign economic activity. The business proposed to expand its functionality in terms of displaying information about customs payments on declarations for goods. Shklyaev confirmed the readiness of the service to move in this direction.

"The Federal Customs Service is ready to refine the Personal Account of the participant of foreign economic activity according to the demanded business proposals," said Sergey Shklyaev.

The initiative of authorized economic operators was considered separately: to allow them to pay a recycling fee when submitting an application for the release of goods before submitting a declaration. Currently, the procedure requires declaration before payment of the fee, which creates procedural delays for AEO.

At the end of the meeting, the participants were introduced to the innovations in the administration of customs duties. The details of the changes were not disclosed, but their communication to the business community directly at the meeting indicates that the adjustments have already entered into force or are being prepared for introduction in the near future.

For importers, the practical meaning of negotiations is in two directions. If the Federal Customs Service and the Ministry of Finance come to the conclusion that the penalties are unlawful if there is an advance, companies will have grounds to challenge the claims already made. The refinement of the Personal Account will simplify the reconciliation of payments for specific declarations without requests to customs.

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