Russia switches customs payment details: what it means for the release date of your shipment
From 1 January 2021 customs duties and VAT in Russia are paid to a new account — the single treasury account No. 40102 opened for the Interregional Operations Department of the Federal Treasury. Your consignee makes that payment, so on paper the change has nothing to do with you as the shipper. In practice it falls on the one stretch of time you do care about: between the arrival of your goods at the Russian border and their release. Until 1 April 2021 both the old and the new details are accepted, but money sent to the old ones is credited in two days instead of one — and a declaration is not released until the payment has landed on the customs account.
Contents
- What has changed on the Russian side
- Why a payment detail decides when your cargo moves
- Old and new details during the transition
- What your buyer in Russia will ask you for
- What to do before you ship
- Frequently asked questions
What has changed on the Russian side
Federal Law No. 479-FZ of 27 December 2019 amended the Russian Budget Code in the part covering treasury servicing and the treasury payment system. Following it, from 1 January 2021 the Federal Treasury moved to treasury servicing of revenues to the budgets of the Russian budget system within the treasury payment system.
The wording matters less to a foreign shipper than the result: customs and other payments are now made to an account opened for the Interregional Operations Department of the Federal Treasury on balance account No. 40102, the «single treasury account». The order introducing this and sample payment orders with the new details — one for customs VAT as an advance payment, one for customs duty — have been published. That paperwork belongs to your buyer's accounting department, not to you.
The switch is not instantaneous. The old details stay usable until 1 April 2021, and that transition window is exactly where shipments lose days.
Why a payment detail decides when your cargo moves
The release chain in Russia is short and rigid: the goods arrive, they go into a temporary storage warehouse, the buyer or its customs representative files the declaration, the duties and VAT have to be credited to the customs account, and only then are the goods released. Payment is not a formality that follows release — it is a condition of it.
This is why one day of crediting time is not an accounting nuance. If the money goes to the old details, the declaration waits an extra day while your goods sit in the warehouse, the booked truck waits, the unloading slot at the buyer's site moves, and on sea freight the free time on the container keeps running. From the buyer's side it looks like a late delivery; from yours it looks like a shipment that left on schedule. Neither of you sees the transfer that is still in flight.
Until 1 April 2021 the old details still work, but money sent to them is credited in two days instead of one. Every day the payment is in transit is a day your cargo spends in temporary storage — and a missed delivery date that will be attributed to the shipment, not to the bank transfer.
The practical conclusion for a shipper is unglamorous: during the transition, plan the leg between arrival and customs clearance with a buffer of at least one working day, and do not promise the consignee a release date calculated on the assumption that the payment clears overnight.
Customs payments in Russia go to a new treasury account — until 1 April 2021 money sent to the old details takes a day longer to arrive
Old and new details during the transition
Both sets of details are valid in parallel until 1 April 2021. They differ in one thing that matters to your cargo — how long the money takes to arrive.
| Payment sent to | Funds credited | Effect on your shipment |
|---|---|---|
| New details Account of the Interregional Operations Department of the Federal Treasury, balance account No. 40102 «single treasury account» |
Within one day | Normal timing: the declaration can be released as soon as the customs checks are done |
| Old details Accepted during the transition period, up to 1 April 2021 |
Within two days | One extra day in temporary storage before release; delivery and unloading dates shift |
| After 1 April 2021 | New details only | A payment made from an outdated template does not reach the account and the declaration waits until the payment is repeated |
What your buyer in Russia will ask you for
Nothing in this change adds a document to your export file. What it does add is pressure on timing: your buyer now needs to calculate the duty and VAT and move the money earlier than before, and those figures come from your documents.
- Invoice with a value the customs authority can work with — price, currency, delivery terms and freight shown separately, so the customs value and the payment amount can be calculated before the goods arrive, not after.
- Packing list and weights that match the shipping documents; a discrepancy means a recalculation, and a recalculation during the transition period means another payment cycle.
- Product data for the HS code — composition, purpose, technical specification. The code sets the duty rate, and the rate sets the amount the buyer has to transfer.
- Permits and conformity documents where the goods require them. If certification is still pending on the Russian side, the payment schedule is the least of the problems.
Send the final scans as soon as the goods are loaded rather than when they are already approaching the border. One day earlier on your side gives the buyer the day the transition period takes away, and it costs you nothing. If you would rather have the whole leg — delivery and customs clearance — handled by one party on the Russian side, that is a conversation worth having before shipment, not after the goods are in the warehouse.
What to do before you ship
- Ask the consignee in writing to confirm that its customs payments are already going to the new details and that its payment templates have been updated.
- Check whether the buyer keeps an advance payment balance with customs. If it does, the transition affects only the top-up, not every individual shipment.
- Add at least one working day of buffer between the estimated arrival and the promised delivery date for any shipment leaving before 1 April 2021.
- Send the invoice, packing list and product description as soon as loading is complete, so the buyer can calculate the duty and VAT in advance.
- Keep the values and weights in the invoice, packing list and transport document identical — a correction means a new calculation and a new transfer.
- Confirm that permits and conformity documents are ready for the arrival date, not for the release date.
- For sea shipments, take the extra crediting day into account when you agree free time on the container; for road deliveries, when you book the unloading slot.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to change anything in my own paperwork?
No. The account and the payment details concern the party that pays customs duties in Russia — your buyer or its customs representative. Your export documents stay as they are; only the timing around release changes.
Can I still ship if my buyer is using the old details?
Yes. The old details are accepted until 1 April 2021. The money simply takes two days to be credited instead of one, so build that day into the delivery schedule.
Why does a payment on the Russian side hold up my cargo at all?
Because goods are not released until the duties and VAT have been credited to the customs account. Until then the declaration stays open and the cargo stays in temporary storage, where charges accrue per day.
What happens to a payment made to the old details after 1 April 2021?
From that date the transition is complete and only the new details apply. A transfer made from an outdated template does not reach the account, and the goods wait until the payment is repeated correctly.
Summary
From 1 January 2021 customs payments in Russia go to the single treasury account No. 40102 held by the Interregional Operations Department of the Federal Treasury, with the transition running until 1 April 2021. Payments to the new details are credited in one day, payments to the old ones in two. Nothing changes in your export documents, but until April every shipment carries a potential extra day between arrival and release, spent in temporary storage. Confirm the details with your buyer, send documents early and keep a day of buffer in the schedule. Request a consultation and we will go through the timing and the document set for your specific shipment.
We can check your document set before loading and handle customs clearance for your consignee in Russia.
Read also:
- Russia's Digital Customs: What Online Clearance Means for Your Shipment
- Cargo Held Hostage in Transit: What the "Foreign-Trade Racket" on Russia-Bound Routes Means for Exporters
- War Risk Insurance in Russian Customs Value: What Your Buyer Will Ask You For
- Electronic Waybills for Shipments to Russia: The Carriage UID, Codes 02015 and 02016, and What Your Buyer Will Ask You For
