Dividends are paid to an owner out of a company's profit. But if the foreign owner also sells goods to the company, customs may examine whether that payment gives the owner part of the income from sales of imported goods. For the importer, such a dispute can lead to a recalculation of payments on shipments that have already been imported.
| Dividends unrelated to goods | Excluded under Article 39(9) |
|---|---|
| Goods proceeds accruing to seller | Examine Article 40 conditions |
Under paragraph 9 of Article 39 of the Customs Code of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU Customs Code), dividends and other payments by the buyer to the seller are not included in the customs value if they are unrelated to the imported goods. At the same time, subparagraph 3 of paragraph 1 of Article 40 of the EAEU Customs Code requires adding the part of the proceeds from the subsequent sale, other disposal, or use of those goods that accrues directly or indirectly to the seller.
The difference between these payments depends on their purpose and their connection with the goods. A shareholders' or participants' resolution on profit distribution shows how the dividends were formalized. The supply terms and the price calculation help determine whether the same amount also performed another function in the relationship between buyer and seller.
That is why the review must consider both the sources of profit and the price of the imported goods. The company may have earned income from imported products, its own services, and other operations. These records help explain what the payment consists of, while the purchasing documents show how the parties calculated the prices for the supplies.
The fact that buyer and seller are related does not automatically rule out method 1 - determining customs value on the basis of the transaction value. Paragraph 4 of Article 39 allows that price if the relationship did not influence it. If the customs authority identifies signs of such influence, paragraph 5 of Article 39 provides for notifying the declarant of those signs and analysing the circumstances of the sale.
Paragraph 10 of Thematic Review of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation No. 9/2026, approved on June 17, 2026 considers disputes involving importers of Pull&Bear and Chanel products. In both cases, the lower courts granted the companies' claims. The Supreme Court set those judgments aside and sent the cases for a new hearing. The Review does not establish the final amount of the assessments and does not state the outcome of the rehearings.
In the Pull&Bear import case, the lower courts attached importance to the fact that the contract did not link dividend payments to the sale of particular imported goods. The Supreme Court said that the economic substance of the payment and the pricing information had to be examined. The absence of a specific dividend clause in the contract does not by itself close the question of applying subparagraph 3 of paragraph 1 of Article 40.
In the Chanel case, customs pointed out that the foreign company was both a shareholder and a supplier, the Russian company was the exclusive seller of the brand, and the main financial result was connected with the imported goods. A request for pricing documents and information went unanswered. The Supreme Court stated that the customs authority's arguments and the evidence it submitted had not been properly assessed by the courts.
The declaration, contract, and specification identify the shipment under review and the purchase terms. The invoice - the supplier's commercial bill - and payment documents show the settlements relating to it. Unit price, quantity, currency, delivery, deferred payment, and discounts should correspond to the rule the supplier used to calculate the price.
A pricing methodology is the set of rules used to form the price. For example, a supplier may start with cost and add a particular mark-up, apply a volume discount, or use a single formula for group companies. What matters is showing how the rule was applied to the shipment under review: which underlying figures produced the amount in the invoice.
Paragraph 5 of Article 39 of the EAEU Customs Code provides for analysing the circumstances of the sale and allows test values to be used to assess whether the relationship influenced the price. These include transaction values for identical or similar goods sold to unrelated buyers for export to the EAEU in the same or a corresponding period.
These values are used for comparison. Differences in commercial level, quantity, additional additions, and expenses are taken into account. Paragraph 5 itself does not turn another party's price into the new customs value of the shipment under review.
If the seller works only with companies in its group and there are no comparable sales to unrelated buyers, the pricing information that is actually available should be used: internal sales rules, commercial offers, cost and mark-up calculations, and discount terms. The set of documents depends on the particular business model.
After the price, the profit must be examined. The shareholder or participant resolution shows the amount distributed and the period. Financial statements and supporting breakdowns help show which lines of business generated the profit. If the company sells imported goods, provides services of its own, and earns other income at the same time, those results should be separated to the extent the accounting records allow.
Revenue from the sale of imported goods and profit are different figures. A company has staff, warehouse, advertising, delivery-to-customer, and other expenses. To link dividends to particular imports, it is therefore necessary to see how the financial result was formed and how expenses were allocated among the lines of business.
In a hypothetical example, the company's net profit is RUB 50 million. A documented calculation attributes RUB 30 million to sales of imported goods and another RUB 20 million to independent service work. The foreign shareholder receives RUB 20 million in dividends.
If the dividends were allocated proportionally between those two sources of profit, RUB 20 million × 30/50 = RUB 12 million would be attributable to imported-goods sales. This calculation allocates the payment between the company's business lines. For a customs addition, it is still necessary to establish the function of the payment, its connection with the particular seller, and whether the proportion itself is justified.
If the analysis of the price, contracts, and relationship between the parties also confirms that these RUB 12 million are proceeds from the goods under review accruing to the foreign seller, the amount is allocated among the relevant goods. This is a separate assumption of the example, not a conclusion that follows from the profit ratio alone.
Under the assumptions of the example, no such connection is established for the remaining RUB 8 million. The established RUB 12 million increase the customs value but are not an amount payable to customs. Duties and taxes are calculated separately under the relevant declarations.
Paragraph 3 of Article 40 of the EAEU Customs Code requires additional additions to be based on reliable, quantifiable, and documented information. If the information needed for a required addition is unavailable on that basis, method 1 does not apply. Both the company's calculation and the customs authority's calculation therefore need to be checked: the source of the amount, the goods to which it was allocated, and the allocation method chosen.
Letter of the Russian Ministry of Finance dated 10.02.2025 No. 27-01-21/11349, as amended on 25.02.2025 should also be taken into account. It states the ministry's position on including dividends where the exporter's pricing methodology has not been provided or there is no evidence that the price is at market level, including where the seller has a limited range of buyers.
This letter is not a rule of the EAEU Customs Code and does not by itself create a universal rule requiring all dividends to be included. But the approach described in it shows the questions customs authorities raise when reviewing intragroup supplies.
If the price calculations are held by a foreign parent company, request data for the period under review and for the particular goods. If some information cannot be obtained, attach the correspondence and state what was requested and what remained unavailable. Commercial confidentiality may explain why a document was not provided, but the price of the goods still has to be supported by the information the company does have.
For future supplies, deferred determination of the exact customs value is provided for by subparagraph (c) of paragraph 3 of the Procedure approved by Decision of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission dated 19.06.2018 No. 103.
This case applies when the conditions of method 1 are met and the contract provides for a part of the proceeds from the subsequent sale, other disposal, or use of the imported goods that accrues directly or indirectly to the seller. The contract must also set out how that part of the proceeds is calculated using information that is not yet known on the date the goods declaration is registered.
A provisional customs value is declared when the goods are declared. Duties and taxes are calculated and paid on the basis of that provisional amount. The exact customs value is declared after release. In other words, deferred determination of the exact value does not postpone payment of amounts already calculated on the provisional customs value.
Andrey Bernev, customs lawyer.