Taxation of Cross-border E-commerce in Asia

Elena Ye. Chernyakova – Acting Head and Senior Researcher of Department for Tax System Development of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (Moscow, Russia). Е-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Lubov A. Aslapovskaya – Junior Researcher of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (Moscow, Russia). Е-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

E-commerce is actively developing all over the world; China, as well as several other Asian countries, are among the ten major participants in e-commerce in the world, but Russia is not. At the same time, the EAEU member countries (Kazakhstan and Belarus) amended their tax legislation in 2022, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan in 2023 worsening the situation of Russian participants in online trading. The supranational tax legislation of the EAEU does not reflect the realities of the current level of e-commerce development and makes it possible for member countries to introduce tax legislation provisions that disincentivize the development of cross-border e-commerce in the EAEU.

The article examines the taxation of e-commerce in several Asian countries, some of which are leaders in e-commerce in the world, as well as strategic partners of Russia.

Key words: VAT, e-commerce, country of destination principle, country of origin principle, EAEU, Russia, China, India, Malaysia, Indonesia.

JEL-codes: H20, H25, K 34, F10.