lawsuit forces Israel Post to inspect packages and collect taxes

Online shopping has taken over the world. Even in Israel it has been increasing rapidly, and Amazon's entry into the Israel market has sent shock waves through the entire Israel brick and mortar retail industry. We've already seen businesses complaining about the effect of Amazon free shipping to Israel on their businesses, and they filed a lawsuit against Israel Post for giving Amazon priority service and hurting local businesses who suffer with delayed service because of Amazon.

According to a report on Hamodia.com, based on a Channel 12 report, a lawsuit has been filed by a group of businesses against Israel Post for not checking imported packages properly for payment of import duties.

As is known, personal import, meaning anything you buy for personal use on websites like Amazon, Next, ASOS, Ebay, Aliexpress or other sites, are tax-free up to $75. Once your purchase amount is over $75, you have to pay VAT (17%) and other duties. Over $500 and you will be hit with more duties.

The businesses are claiming that their businesses are being hurt because people are ordering from abroad and not paying the proper taxes, making it an uneven playing field. If the Israel Post would inspect properly and collect taxes that are due, many people would order less from abroad and buy locally.

The Supreme Court accepted the argument and as of February 15 Israel Post will be forced to inspect incoming packages more thoroughly to determine proper duties for collection.

Being how Israel Post can hardly keep up with the current workload, I do not see how they'll be able to function with such an added workload. Expect more delays in delivery of your packages. Maybe they will hire more handlers to inspect packages, and all this online purchasing that was thought to hurt the local economy and cause local unemployment will actually be a boon and increase employment in the Israel Postal Services...

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