Shein, Shopee and Aliexpress: Lula and Congress want to charge Chinese e-commerce taxes

the government of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and the National Congress study to charge taxes of goods imported from e-commerce Chinesesuch as Shein, Shopee It is aliexpress. The objective is to inhibit the competition of products from China and thus stimulate sales by Brazilian retailers.

According to a report published this Saturday (25) by The State of São PauloLula intends to include taxation of Chinese websites in the tax reform under discussion in Congress. According to Estadãoan alternative would be to charge the VAT (Value Added Tax) on Chinese e-commerce sales.

The newspaper claims, however, that the measure does not please Brazilian retailers, because it foresees a gradual transition from the current tax system to VAT – which could last up to 2031. National companies want a faster response to the problem, and defend charging the Import tax on foreign products.

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Whatever the solution, the annoyance with the advance of Shein, Shopee and Aliexpress on the national market is echoed in Congress. To Estadão, the president of the Joint Parliamentary Front for Entrepreneurship, deputy Marco Bertaiolli (PSD-SP) stated that Brazil already receives more than 500,000 packages with Chinese products per day.

“We are going to ask Brazilian companies to have the same competitiveness”, said Bertaiolli to the newspaper. The parliamentarian also mentions that Chinese websites have circumvented national customs through various expedients, such as using an individual sender, not a legal person, to benefit from the Import Tax exemption in transactions of up to US$ 50 between people physical

To Estadão, Shein, Shopee and Aliexpress denied any practice to circumvent the collection of taxes and stated that they comply with all customs requirements.

Luciano Hang and Bolsonaro against Shopee, Shein and Aliexpress

Although it was championed by Lula, the fight of Brazilian companies against Chinese websites began during the government of Jair Bolsonaro. Just remember that a year ago, in March 2022, Luciano Hangthe founder of Havana and one of Bolsonaro’s closest allies, and other businessmen in the field sought out the then Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedesrequiring measures to stop the entry of goods.

At the time, Hang and business entities also filed their complaints with the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), and listed a series of measures that should be adopted to inhibit unfair competition. In the 97-page document, to which the Money Times had access at that time, included:

– Collection of import taxes, via IOF collection, carried out by the payment intermediary and Brazilian financial institution, at the time of payment by the Brazilian consumer.

– Application of a minimum rate of 80%, in accordance with the Simplified Taxation System – RTS on imports (60% federal taxes + ICMS), in order to match the same taxation required of companies established in Brazil.

– Revocation of the 0% rate, when there is an intermediary bank in Brazil.

– Extinction of “De minimis”, aimed at the entry into the country of products sent by individuals and received by individuals, due to the legal “loophole” that facilitates evasion in the entry of products through international websites.

– Legal liability of the carrier, including the Post Office, in case of transport of contraband product, under penalty of being jointly and severally liable for tax, consumerist and criminal offences.

– Obligation of transport companies to inform the customs of the actual cost of freight for each order, passed on to the consumer or not, for integration into the Calculation Base of import taxes to be collected at the time of entry into the national territory.

– Requirement to accompany the Invoice, so that any goods to be transported by the Post Office present the necessary fiscal data.

– Extinction of the declaration of content as a replacement for the invoice.

– Integration of information on transport and dispatch of goods from Correios to the Federal Revenue, for verification of all legal obligations (fiscal-tax).

– Establishment of legal mechanisms, focused on vetoing the possibility of privatization of Correios by companies from sectors other than transport, such as wholesalers, retailers and/or e-commerce, that have direct or indirect interests in using the company for other purposes.

– Asian companies would be interested in acquiring Correios precisely because they could have logistical control over the entry of goods into Brazil.

The issue sensitized the Bolsonaro government, to the point that Guedes began drafting a provisional measure to combat what he called, at the time, a “digital street vendor”.