Currently, under the ‘Easy Import’ service of Sunat and Serpost, no procedures or tax payments have to be carried out for imported goods – be they goods or gifts, among others – with a value of up to US$200.
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But, it is in this scheme that the superintendency identified that goods are frequently being imported for marketing and not for consumption, Franco told Diario Gestión.
Edgardo Bernuy Giraldo, managing partner of the Tax Area of Stucchi Abogados, indicated that in the ‘Importa Fácil’ service, products with a value ranging between US$200 and US$2,000 are taxed. These are subject to the payment of VAT and, in some cases, a special tariff.
And if the product exceeds US$2,000, the import is subject to the regular import procedure: the numbering of a customs declaration, the payment of corresponding tariffs and VAT, and other applicable taxes.
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Likewise, Rolando Cevasco, partner in the Tax area of CMS Grau, commented that imports of less than US$200 are not taxed for reasons of practicality to control products in which some type of tax evasion occurs.
Bernuy explained that this evaluation by Sunat is due to the growth of electronic commerce in Peru with the presence of platforms such as Temu, Shein, AliExpress, among others. It would also apply to international purchases made by users from ‘marketplaces’ such as Falabella or through already established platforms such as Amazon.
“What Sunat says is that it has analyzed purchasing behaviors and they have detected that a series of people make many purchases below US$200, they bring products free of the payment of taxes applicable to imports and then they sell them,” he commented.
In turn, Jorge Román, Counsel for International Trade and Customs at Rebaza, Alcázar & De Las Casas, explained that this importation of products not subject to taxes which are then marketed distorts the design of the current scheme, designed for purchases of goods for personal use.
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He specified that Sunat has to clarify if it would try to reduce the amount imported tax-free or if said cap would be eliminated. In addition, he indicated that the control measures to be applied must be detailed.
How would the modification be made? According to specialists, for the eventual measure to be established, the General Customs Lawwhich would require a bill to be discussed in Congress.
On the other hand, Bernuy explained that, if the product was taxed with a value of less than US$200, the import would be withheld and the buyer would be notified of the pending payment to release the product.
In that sense, according to Cevasco, the payment of the tax would not be made by the e-commerce platform, but by the person who makes the purchase.
For Cevasco, this eventual measure could make transactions and the activity of the tax administration in the supervision of operations more expensive. In addition, it can encourage the generation of a parallel market, he added.
In turn, Lourdes Castillo Crisóstomo, professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Piura, argued that taxing these imports would eliminate the simplification of electronic commerce and would transfer administrative and economic burdens to natural persons who do not participate in business activities. This would discourage the use of electronic commerce and, therefore, less demand for fast delivery shipping services, couriers or other logistics services.
For his part, Román considered that an alternative could be to apply a special tax to these products.
