By 2027, the Russian market will be fully protected from gray imports of tobacco products produced in Belarus, this will be facilitated by an agreement on indirect taxes, which will be submitted to the Federation Council for ratification in October-November, Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Sazanov said at a meeting of the Federation Council Committee on Budget and Financial Markets.
He reminded that the problem of gray imports arose due to the significant difference between the tax rates in the countries: Russian excise tax rates on tobacco products are significantly higher than Belarusian ones. That is, Belarusian tobacco producers, producing products inside their country, simply supply part of the goods to the Russian market, de facto paying tax at Belarusian rates.
"This problem is designed to solve the agreement on indirect taxes, which will already be signed by the Minister of Finance by the end of October, will be submitted to the Federation Council for ratification in October-November. By 2027, we will systematically level the excise tax rates between us and the Republic of Belarus, that is, the differential will disappear completely by 2027," Sazanov said.
The Deputy Minister added that the work is progressing. "We are doing this gradually in order to prevent some kind of socio-economic tension in the Republic of Belarus," he explained.
He also noted that the countries actively interact with each other. "This is such a complex of our legislative and legal initiatives in order to consolidate our cooperation with the Republic of Belarus both in the customs sphere and in the tax sphere," concluded the Deputy Head of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation.
Source:
1prime.ru