Compliant Shipping: will the exemption for purchases up to US$50 end?

To the international purchases have once again become a subject of discussion between governments and large online retail companies. This time, the reason would be the possible extinction of the tax exemption for international purchases up to US$50. The measure was recently applied to purchases at large international retailers, such as Shein, AliExpress and Shopee. However, it may be canceled soon.

See too: See how to calculate purchases on Shein, Aliexpress and Shopee within Remessa Conformo

The program called Conforming Shipping guarantees that purchases of up to US$5 made by Brazilian citizens in international e-commerces are exempt from Import Tax. However, the Ministry of Finance showed that it intends to end this exemption, as this would help achieve the fiscal target.

“The US$50 exemption is seen as a serious problem for our retail, industry, commerce and even for national e-commerce”, stated federal deputy Zé Neto (PT-BA). The measure is being supported mainly by retailers that operate online, stating that Remessa Compliance is hindering sales.

Import Tax Exemption

The Bill is in progress and has broad support from the National Congress. The project's rapporteur, federal deputy Paulo Guedes (PT-MG), is expected to soon present his report for analysis by the Finance and Taxation Commission (CFT). Therefore, the aim is for voting to take place as quickly as possible, so that retail is not impacted at the end of the year.

According to the Executive Secretary of Finance, Dario Durigan, the government is looking for alternatives. One of the possibilities is to define an import tariff to promote equality between foreign companies and national retailers. Another measure studied is the institution of a tax rate of at least 20%.

Furthermore, increasing the ICMS rate for imported products from 17.5% to 25% is also under analysis. However, the government plans to maintain the Import Tax exemption for purchases of up to US$50 until the economic team can measure whether the measure actually results in unfair competition.

Therefore, the idea is to wait until the Conforming Remittance program reaches 100% of declared purchases, estimated to happen later this year. Only after this fact will a new tax rate be thought of by the Ministry of Finance and by Congress.