Development of Judicial Practice on Including Payment Agents’ Fees in Customs Value
Currently, customs authorities tend to include the fees of payment agents facilitating payments for goods imported into the Russian Federation in their customs value. Recently, this trend has evolved further. Since the introduction of European sanctions and the emergence of payment difficulties with European suppliers due to the often restrictive policies of European banks, payment agents have been increasingly engaged to ensure payments to suppliers.
In particular, the Moscow District Appellate Court overturned on July 17, 2025, in cassation, a first-instance ruling in favor of the customs authority in case No. A41-69680/2024 and remanded the case for reconsideration. The text of the cassation ruling was published on July 25. The cassation court justified its decision, in part, by stating that payment agents cannot be considered intermediaries when they perform only a "technical" function in transferring payments, and directly referenced the position of the Russian Ministry of Finance outlined below. Thus, the first-instance court, upon rehearing the case, will have to consider the position of the cassation court and the Ministry of Finance. A date for the new hearing has not yet been set.
The court’s ruling highlighted contradictions between the position of the Federal Customs Service of Russia, which the first-instance court followed, and the clarifications issued later by the Ministry of Finance.
The Federal Customs Service (Letter of August 20, 2024) believes that the rules of the EAEU Customs Code on brokers and intermediaries should apply to a payment agent’s fee and that it should be included in the customs value if the agent acted in the seller’s interest. However, there are no clear criteria for determining such interest. In particular, according to the first-instance court in the above case No. A41-69680/2024, a payment agent acts, among other things, in the supplier’s interest by ensuring the latter receives payment under the supply contract.
The Ministry of Finance (Letters of the Ministry of Finance of November 1, 2024, No. 27-01-21/106988; October 2, 2024, No. 27-01-21/95291; etc.) expands on the position of the Federal Customs Service and states that, despite the existence of special provisions in the EAEU Customs Code, these provisions generally do not apply to payment agents, and their fees may only be included in the customs value if engaging a payment agent was a mandatory condition of the transaction and a necessary requirement for concluding the supply contract. In other cases, inclusion is unjustified.
This positive development in judicial practice provides grounds for cautious optimism regarding the resolution of the issue of whether a payment agent’s fee should be included in the customs value of imported goods. If, upon reconsideration, the first-instance court sides with the declarant, it will be safe to say that in the vast majority of cases, payment agents’ fees will not be included in the customs value in the future.
