The Council took a step towards canceling the exemption on parcels up to €150 (Updated)
The Verkhovna Rada has supported in the first reading the entire package of draft laws necessary for changing the taxation of international parcels. Deputies gave 273 votes for the tax draft law No.16051-1 and 267 votes for the related customs draft law No.15460.
The results of the votes on September 16 were reported by People's Deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak. Both documents have so far been adopted only in principle - before they enter into force, they must go through the second reading and a final vote in the Verkhovna Rada.
The package forms a unified system: No.16051-1 determines when and by whom VAT on foreign online purchases is paid, and No.15460 rebuilds customs procedures for this model to work. The refined No.15460 was resubmitted by the government after the previous attempt to adopt it failed on September 1.
VAT on marketplace purchases proposed to be charged from the first euro
Draft law No.16051-1 concerns distance sales of goods through foreign and Ukrainian electronic platforms. For goods worth up to €150 ordered from abroad by individuals, it is proposed to set VAT at 20% of the full purchase price.
The key change is that this tax should be accrued already at the time of purchase. Responsibility for paying it to the Ukrainian budget will lie with the marketplace, not the buyer upon receipt of the shipment.
At the same time, the €150 threshold for import duty is not abolished. From the customs comparative table it follows that goods in international postal and express shipments worth up to €150 will continue not to be subject to import duty. However, VAT for distance sales will be charged according to the rules of the Tax Code.
Also, the exemption from VAT for non-commercial parcels worth up to €45, which one individual sends to another free of charge, and the privilege for goods in unaccompanied baggage up to €150 are maintained. The Ministry of Finance notes that the package brings the Ukrainian system closer to the e-commerce rules in force in the EU.
What the second draft law changes
No.15460 is needed for the technical operation of the new system at customs. It introduces a separate procedure for registering marketplaces, exchanging data between trading platforms, postal operators, express carriers, and customs authorities, as well as new rules for declaring shipments.
If the electronic marketplace is a foreign company, to work under the new rules it will have to appoint an intermediary in Ukraine. Both the marketplace and its intermediary must register with customs authorities and receive a special VAT payer code for distance sales.
Even before the goods are imported, the platform will have to transmit data about the specific operation to customs: a unique control number of the purchase, its value, currency, and the date the seller received the money. This number will also be passed to the postal operator or express carrier so that the data of the marketplace and the specific parcel can be compared automatically.
For such shipments, operators will be able to use special electronic registers instead of a separate full customs declaration for each parcel. At the same time, the draft law directly provides for the possibility of automatic customs clearance of goods worth up to €150, if the risk management system does not detect the need for customs intervention.
A guarantee of €100 thousand provided for marketplaces
A separate mechanism concerns guaranteeing VAT payment. For goods imported under distance selling rules, the amount of security for customs payments is proposed to be set at a level equivalent to €100 thousand.
Such a guarantee must be provided by the electronic platform itself, if it is a resident of Ukraine, or by its Ukrainian intermediary, if the platform operates from abroad. Marketplaces will also have to report accrued VAT, and foreign companies - to keep detailed sales records and provide them to customs upon request.
For the first year of the new system's operation, an adaptation period is provided: officials of marketplaces, their intermediaries, and carriers will not be fined for incomplete or late VAT payment on parcels up to €150, if the tax is eventually paid in full.
For more expensive parcels, the calculation of duty also changes
The customs draft law contains another significant change. For international postal and express shipments worth over €150 but not more than €10 thousand, the import duty rate remains at 10%, but the base for its assessment is proposed to be the entire invoice value of the goods, not just the part exceeding €150.
The Rada has already failed the reform
The current vote became another attempt to pass the reform through parliament. On September 1, government No.15460 received only 194 votes in principle, and the related tax draft law - 198. After that, the customs document was returned to the government for revision. The official card of the Verkhovna Rada confirms the return of No.15460 for revision and the repeated submission of the updated version on September 7.
The Cabinet then re-approved the package. The Ministry of Finance emphasized that these draft laws are part of the IMF EFF cooperation program for 2026-2029 and a condition for the EU macro-financial support. The ministry expects about 10 billion UAH of additional budget revenues per year, which are planned to be directed to defense.
When the new rules may come into effect
Even if the Verkhovna Rada adopts both draft laws in the second reading, VAT on small international parcels will not start being charged immediately.
In the refined version of the package, it is provided that the key tax and customs norms should come into effect no earlier than July 1, 2027. In addition to the calendar date, a separate resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers is needed on the readiness of state IT systems, marketplaces, and the mechanism for distance VAT collection.
So after the vote on September 16, the reform has passed only the first parliamentary stage. Both tax No.16051-1 and customs No.15460 still need to be prepared and voted on in the second reading.
Based on materials: Yaroslav Zheleznyak, Yaroslav Zheleznyak, Ministry of Finance
