EU to Debut New Streamlined Import Declaration Type for de Minimis Shipments
The EU is creating a new, streamlined declaration type for low value imports worth less than €120, it said in a notice published in the July 5 Official Journal. The new customs declaration type contains fewer data elements than standard customs declarations, but still includes information on value-added tax as a result of the upcoming assessment of value-added tax on low-value imports. The new declaration type must be implemented by the time the VAT exemption for low-value gods is eliminated on Jan. 1, 2021, the notice said.
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The low value declaration type will not be available for all de minimis shipments. It won’t be able to be used for “goods subject to prohibitions or restrictions,” which will continue to require the standard customs declaration. Nor will it be used for goods exempt from VAT on importation under customs procedure codes 42 and 63; those procedures are for goods imported into member states different from the member state that will levy VAT, and “the reduced dataset does not contain enough information to comply with all the VAT-related requirements applicable in those cases,” the notice said.
According to the notice, “the increase in e-commerce transactions has revealed that” standard custom declaration data requirements “are not adequate for declaring goods imported in consignments of an intrinsic value not exceeding EUR 150 or consignments not of a commercial nature sent by a private individual to another private individual (low-value consignments).” Much of the information is unnecessary because no duties are assessed on low value shipments; instead, the information is “mostly needed” for upcoming VAT assessments, the notice said.
The new declaration type is also necessary to adapt to the information available to importers for low value shipments. “The high volume of low-value consignments makes it necessary to adapt to the maximum possible extent the dataset required for customs purposes to the electronic information sent by the operator at the place of dispatch of the goods (i.e. in a third country),” the EU said. The new dataset can be found in new column “H7” in the tables in Annex B of the EU regulations that set out data requirements for various customs procedures.
In addition to creating the new data set, the EU is also setting requirements for the transition to the new VAT exemption thresholds. While goods valued at €22 to €120 will no longer be VAT exempt beginning in 2021, goods under €22 will still qualify for an exemption. Currently, exempt goods (i.e., at the moment all shipments under the €120 threshold) may be declared by “simply presenting them to customs instead than by lodging a declaration.” The notice says that, regardless of the state of implementation of any new electronic filing systems, member states must continue to allow this presentation procedure until the new VAT threshold and filing requirements take effect in 2021.