The new head of Customs begins with the accusations against the Mercado Libre

Guillermo Mitchell, the new head of the Directorate General of Customs, made his debut attacking Mercado Libre, one of the leading companies in the country. The foreign trade entity found that Mercado Pago (of MercadoLibre) and another company (Ingenico) had allegedly imported payment terminals under a customs category other than that corresponding to it, according to his accusation.

“An investigation carried out in recent months has allowed the DGA (Directorate General of Customs) to denounce and sanction the companies Mercado Libre and Ingenico for irregularities in the imports of 400,000 payment terminals between 2019 and 2021. The total sanction for both companies, which amounts to $ 15 million”, Communicated that organism.

“Free market has not yet been formally informed of any administrative procedureThe company said in a statement.

The disagreement arises from the characteristics of these terminals. Since 2016 Mercado Libre has been selling payment terminals, or machines (also known as “pos”) that allow companies to accept credit card payments. As part of that part of that process, in January 2020 advanced with “smart” purchasing terminals, which have more technology. In addition to card holders, they allow the generation of QR codes for payments by electronic means, such as cell phone wallets. The government has changed the operations of these companies.

“In October 2021, a customs verifier informed us that we had to import Smart POS for a tariff position different from the one that Mercado Libre had used up to that moment. This change was the result of a new interpretative criterion by the verifier regarding the collection technologies. Without receiving formal notification, Mercado Libre has taken steps to change the nomenclature, “said the company whose largest shareholder is Marcos Galperín, a businessman with public sympathy for former president Mauricio Macri.

New payment methods played a key role in the pandemic, when the least possible contact was sought in daily business operations. The financial sector has embraced this possibility.

The difference is that the The “original” terminals did not pay the import duty, while the most modern pay an installment of 16%. The 0% rate in the first terminals was a way to stimulate the use of this technology and new means of payment.

Even if at customs they did not explain how the $ 15 million fine is composed, it would be for the difference between imported terminals without a tariff and equipment that would have had to pay a tariff of 16%. This applies to both Ingenico and Mercado Pago. In addition to offsetting the balance of both tariff positions, there is a penalty for carrying out this operation.

There is a characterization of imported products where Customs and Mercado Libre differ. The company understands that the older terminals they have never been taxed by the treasury and who, therefore, would not be entitled to the payment of the fine.

“The pricing position description is not exactly aligned with the new Smart POS technologies that Mercado Libre and competing companies are importing,” notes Mercado Libre. The accusation also falls on Ingenico, a company specializing in payment terminals. It is a supplier of Mercado Pago (of Mercado Libre), but also of other companies in the financial and credit card sectors.

“After we have been notified of the policy change, we are importing with the interpretation of the higher tariff scenario. In parallel, we are following the process to determine the correct tariff classification given the new technology we are importing “, underlines Mercado Libre.