From 2028, all parcels coming into the EU from third countries may be subject to customs tax to protect local traders. This is reported by Rus.LSM.lv. Currently, customs tax applies only to relatively expensive purchases – those whose cost exceeds 150 euros. “So we essentially support merchants from third countries,” Irena Knoka, a representative of the customs department of the State Revenue Service, noted in a conversation with Latvian television. Another argument in favor of such a tax is not only the protection of one’s own economy, but also the work of customs. “The resource that customs as an institution has to spend is very large, and the income is very small. Therefore, the European Commission proposes to abandon the customs tax benefit,” explained the head of the Customs and Excise Tax Department, Jolanta Krastiņa. Customs tax can be applied to absolutely all parcels – from change for one euro to expensive electronics. Now the proposal envisages dividing goods into groups: Last year, the most popular online stores from third countries, from where goods are sent to Latvia and to which new rules on customs tax would most likely apply, were the Chinese Ali Express, Shein, Temu, as well as the American iHerb health products store. As before, neither customs tax nor VAT are planned to be applied to gifts worth up to 45 euros.
