In a bid to stem e-commerce shipments from Southeast Asia and China which are wrongly declared as ‘gifts’ to evade duties, courier terminals at Bengaluru and Delhi have stopped clearing parcels under the CB-12 (gifts and samples) route, according to an Economic Times report. Mumbai Customs took a similar action in January 2019, while Chennai is considering it.
What is the CB-12 rule?
- Individuals can receive free samples and gifts up to ₹5,000 in value without paying any duties
- No cap on the number of gifts individual can receive; exploited by overseas e-commerce vendors
Problem with the rule
- E-commerce platforms based in China, such as Club Factory, Shein and AliExpress, misuse this rule to ship cheaper products to Indian customers as gifts, thus avoiding customs duty, and goods and services tax, LiveMint had earlier reported.
- Under a World Trade Organization moratorium, electronic transfer of services, such as e-books don’t require imposition of customs, but physical transfer of goods bought on e-commerce platforms are taxable.
https://www.medianama.com/2019/07/223-delhi-and-bengaluru-customs-stop-clearing-gifts-report/
No comments:
Post a Comment