In response to the hot discussion among netizens, on August 1 1, the General Administration of Customs told the media: "The announcement is mainly aimed at e-commerce enterprises and individuals who realize cross-border transactions on the e-commerce trading platform connected with the customs, and the purchase of WeChat friends circle is not within the supervision scope of this announcement."
Although purchasing by friends circle is not under the supervision of the New Deal, whether personal purchasing is suspected of smuggling still attracts much attention.
Low threshold? Commercial fire
The reporter learned that at present, overseas shopping in China can be roughly divided into two categories: "Haitao" and "Haidai". The former is purchased through e-commerce websites, such as overseas purchasing channels such as Amazon and Tmall, and professional "Haitao" websites; The latter was purchased from overseas with personal help. Handlers are usually international students and air travelers. When they enter the country by mail or carry-on, they only need to pay a little postal tax (import tax on luggage and postal items), and then put the purchased goods in Taobao, Weibo and friends circle for secondary sales.
According to the 20 13 China e-commerce market data monitoring report, by the end of last year, the transaction scale of China's overseas purchasing market reached 76.7 billion yuan, an increase of 58.8% over the previous year's 48.3 billion yuan. It is estimated that by the end of this year, the transaction scale of overseas purchasing will climb to154.9 billion yuan.
Behind the prosperity scene, it is illegal for the folk "Haidai" not to file a record, but it has always been in a "gray zone" under legal supervision and there is no clear management measure. Some unscrupulous businessmen even sell fakes in the name of purchasing. Once consumers buy fakes, they will not be able to complain because the subject of litigation is not clear.
"The United States buys Clinique essence at a preferential price" and "Australian milk powder has quality assurance" ... This kind of overseas purchasing "sipping" is no stranger in the WeChat circle of friends. Searching for "Daigou" on Weibo, a series of marketing accounts came into view. Most of these "micro-stores" are mainly engaged in milk powder, cosmetics and internationally renowned brands.
Due to the low threshold of personal purchasing, considerable income makes many people join the "purchasing army" part-time. When jojo was a graduate student in Australia, she would help her relatives and friends purchase goods every time she returned to China. After graduating last year, she began to use her spare time to start overseas purchasing business. "Mainly milk powder and health care products. After the customer places an order, I check out every Friday and then report the brand number to my friend. He sent the milk powder to my house on Saturday, I packed it and filled it out, and then I came to pick it up on Sunday. " Jojo said that the "venture capital" invested a year ago has already been recovered.
Fu Xiao, an overseas student in Japan who manages Japanese cosmetics purchasing, told the reporter: "The goods I bought have been sent back as personal belongings, with an average weight of about 3 kilograms, and the postage and courier fees totaled * * * 2,300 yuan."
Lulu, who is engaged in purchasing in the United States, basically sends a box of 2.5 kilograms worth about 1 000 yuan to China every day because she deals in clothing, shoes, skin care products and other categories. "The probability of being spot-checked by the customs is about 10%, and sometimes it will be checked. Once detained, the customs duties on clothes and shoes account for 10% of the total price, and skin care products account for 50%. I usually have to deduct the tax of 100 yuan or more for this box of goods. "
Customs explains "Haidai" and waits and sees.
On August 1 day, Document No.56 of the General Administration of Customs was officially implemented. The announcement requires: "If an e-commerce enterprise or individual realizes cross-border trading of inbound and outbound goods and articles through an e-commerce trading platform approved by the customs and networked with the customs, it shall be subject to customs supervision in accordance with this announcement." "E-commerce enterprises or individuals, payment enterprises and logistics enterprises shall submit orders, payment, logistics and other information to the customs before the declaration of goods and articles entering or leaving the country by e-commerce."
The news of strengthening customs supervision came out. In the view of more and more private "Haidai", "great regulatory pressure has been felt." The news of "friends circle purchasing or suspected smuggling" was forwarded by a large number of netizens. "Haidai" buyers are worried about the price increase of goods due to tax payment, while sellers are considering whether to reduce sending purchasing information in the circle of friends. Sellers with declining "business" even intend to quit. However, most people hold a wait-and-see attitude.
An online shop owner who has been purchasing Korean cosmetics for a long time admitted to the reporter: "There are so many packages entering the country every day, and the customs only checks the packages with problems. I don't think it should be so unlucky. " The shopkeeper also said that the price of the goods he sold would not increase for the time being. The reporter also asked several consumers who often buy imported goods online, and they also said that they did not find the price increase of purchasing goods.
In response to everyone's "discussion" on the announcement, the General Administration of Customs said on August 1 1: "The announcement is mainly aimed at e-commerce enterprises and individuals who realize cross-border transactions on the e-commerce trading platform connected with the customs, and the purchase of WeChat friends circle is not within the supervision scope of this announcement." "Cross-border transactions with customs can effectively solve the problems of foreign exchange settlement and tax refund and safeguard the rights and interests of consumers".
During the interview, the reporter learned that the new regulations have not been refined quickly. For example, there is no clear standard for overweight or overweight, and it is temporarily determined by customs officers on the spot. For the folk "Haidai", most of them are personal behaviors, and there are many practitioners, so it is difficult to supervise.
A certain amount to declare.
The interpretation of the announcement by the General Administration of Customs has made many individuals feel relieved. However, this does not mean that any personal purchasing is legal. If it is beyond the "reasonable range", it will be suspected of tax evasion or even smuggling if the goods delivered or brought into China are sold for the second time. The relevant personnel of Tianjin Customs Consultation Service Center said: "When personal articles pass through customs, if they reach a certain amount, they must declare to the customs and pay the corresponding taxes, otherwise they will be suspected of smuggling."
According to the relevant provisions of the Customs Law: "If the total value of articles for personal use carried by inbound resident passengers abroad is less than 5,000 yuan (including 5,000 yuan, the same below), the customs will release them duty-free." If the import tax on imported goods by post exceeds 50 yuan RMB, it will be taxed in full according to the value of the goods. It is understood that overseas purchasing is mainly by post at present. That is to say, once the tax payable on postal items exceeds that of 50 yuan, it must be paid in full according to the value of the items.
In order to avoid tax, many individual purchasing agents split their imported goods into multiple tickets, falsely reported them as personal belongings, and used the preferential tax exemption regulations for personal belongings to enter the country through postal and express mail channels. In the interview, the reporter also learned that many merchants deliberately wrote down the official price of goods in order to avoid supervision, and even mailed the labels and invoices of goods separately from the goods. "There are many inbound parcels, but the customs can't find them" is a common psychology of tax evasion and purchasing.
However, the way of purchasing "breaking the whole into parts" may not be able to avoid legal responsibility. For example, the well-known 20 12 "stewardess purchasing case", the court found that Li evaded taxes and sentenced him to three years in prison. In fact, according to the provisions of the Customs Law, no matter whether you bring your own entry or mail entry, as long as you fail to declare and pay taxes in accordance with the regulations, you are suspected of smuggling. However, in order to identify the crime of smuggling ordinary goods and articles, it is necessary to meet two standards: subjective intentional behavior and tax evasion of 50 thousand yuan.
It is worth noting that the implementation of the new customs policy is expected to make large cross-border e-commerce become a "regular army." Mr. Lin, the person in charge of an e-commerce company in this city, told the reporter that after his website was approved by the customs and networked with the customs, the overseas purchasing behavior was standardized. Mr. Lin also said, "The customs requires that the goods information be filed in advance, including the 10 Harmonized System code of the goods and the 8-digit tax number of the goods recognized by the customs. This means that for consumers, whether the goods come in from abroad, whether they pass customs inspection and whether they pay taxes, the customs system will be clear, and the possibility of buying fakes is greatly reduced. "