Collection of customs duties in Totma in September of 1629 and norms of authorized customs letter

The article was written with the help of archive sources. It shows that various customs duties collections were performed by tselovalniks. This process strictly followed norms of the local authorized customs letter that came into effect on the 1st of September, 1622. This fact is supported by the comparison between the orders in the letter and numerous entries of custom duties collection, in particular shipping and general taxes collected from Totma citizens and other cities. The research shows that authorized customs letter determined the payment and its limits for each case whereas in practice the payment was determined by vessels’ real size allowing for price digressions. This was a small boat of a merchant was charged the same amount of money as big ships. Whether the goods belonged to those transporting them or not was also taken into consideration. Tarkhanschiks could use fringe benefits. Duties paid in rubles were not taken note of in the book. People who were not merchants were charged less than those working in the trade, including people from other cities. All this supports and elaborates on the practices of Russian customs and customs policies in the post-troubled times.