Japan Weighs Ending Low-Value Import Tax Exemption, Making Big E‑Commerce Platforms Collect

Overview

• An LDP tax commission meeting outlined a plan to revoke the consumption‑tax exemption for imports worth ¥10,000 or less and to require marketplaces with over ¥5 billion in annual revenue to remit the tax on sellers’ sales.
• Platforms expected to be covered include Temu, Shein and Qoo10, reflecting a shift to platform liability rather than relying on thousands of individual foreign sellers.
• Japan currently taxes imports above ¥10,000, but authorities say sellers often fail to collect and pass on the levy, a gap the proposal is designed to close.
• The move tracks global policy shifts after the EU ended its small‑parcel VAT exemption in 2021 and the United States recently curtailed de minimis treatment.
• In Brazil, a retail association cites labor and tax data showing roughly 1 million retail jobs added since August 2023 and R$3.2 billion in annual receipts, disputing a platform‑funded study as Receita data show an 11% import decline and a CNI survey finds 38% of consumers abandoned taxed purchases with many switching to domestic sellers.