The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation has ruled illegal the additional assessment of customs duties based on the price of a car from an internet site. The case involved the owner of a Hyundai Staria minivan purchased in South Korea.
The car owner purchased a used car for $21,700 and declared this value when importing the car into Russia. Based on the stated price, he paid customs duties of 742,000 rubles.
Later, customs officials found an advertisement on a Korean online auction for the sale of a similar car for $40,200. Based on this information, customs recalculated the value of the car and demanded an additional payment of 453,000 rubles in duties.
The case went to the Supreme Court, which ruled the additional assessment unreasonable. The court pointed out that data on the value of a car from internet platforms cannot be automatically used to adjust the customs value.