High risk that bill on taxing parcels under EUR 150 will fail – Marchenko
The bill to cancel the duty-free import allowance for international parcels valued up to EUR 150 (No. 15112-d) may fail in parliament due to artificial negative sentiment in society, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko has said.
"There is a high risk today that this bill will not be passed. We might later look back on this as a missed opportunity. Unfortunately, we are trying to convince several very vocal individuals who are shaping public negativity," the minister said during a roundtable discussion on taxing international parcels and digital platforms, organized by the European Business Association (EBA) on Friday.
He said there are no economic arguments against this reform. He said after the European Union canceled a similar allowance in 2021, it collected EUR 88 billion for its budget between 2021 and 2024 while protecting its internal market. Marchenko said delays would damage the economy and the budget, pointing out that Ukraine’s negative trade balance grew from $2 billion to over $50 billion during the war.
Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Tax, and Customs Policy Danylo Hetmantsev supported the Finance Ministry’s position during the event. He said government legislative initiatives were developed at the request of legitimate businesses to create a level playing field and end discrimination against Ukrainian manufacturers compared to foreign marketplaces. At the same time, he said the real sector of the economy failed in its communication efforts.
"The opposing position is represented by only one postal operator, but they are louder than you. This is the source of all our problems and its consequences in the Verkhovna Rada hall. We have now begun considering the customs code bill (No. 12360), which contains effective and simple mechanisms. Together with postal operators — Ukrposhta, Nova Poshta, Meest — we found compromise options, but this issue is still not perceived positively at the societal level," Hetmantsev said.
As reported, passing the law to cancel the VAT exemption for parcels under EUR 150 is a structural benchmark of the cooperation program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which Ukraine was supposed to meet by the end of March this year. The cancellation of the VAT exemption for shipments under EUR 150 (bills No. 15112-d and No. 12360) aims to eliminate schemes involving the splitting of commercial consignments. According to Finance Ministry estimates, it should bring approximately UAH 10 billion to the state budget annually.
New taxation rules are planned to take effect in 2027 once customs and marketplace IT systems are fully ready. Parcels sent from one individual to another (C2C) with a value of up to EUR 45 will remain tax-exempt.
During the next plenary week (May 26-29), the Verkhovna Rada plans to continue considering amendments and hold a final vote on bill No. 12360 regarding KPIs for customs authorities, which includes the necessary changes to the Customs Code to cancel parcel exemptions.
MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak (Holos faction) said parliament also plans to consider bill No. 15112-d on parcel VAT directly this week, as well as the second reading of bill No. 15111-d on the automatic exchange of information regarding income on digital platforms.
Leading business associations, including AmCham, EBA, and URB, urged parliament to pass these changes immediately, estimating budget losses from the current exemption at over UAH 43 billion since the start of the full-scale war. Conversely, heads of Nova Poshta and Ukrposhta criticized the initiative, citing risks to consumer purchasing power and a lack of a real "level playing field."
Additionally, as previously reported with reference to Bloomberg, the EU plans to link part of the EUR 90 billion Ukraine Support Loan (USL) payments to the adoption of tax changes required by the IMF. According to Bloomberg, this applies to the so-called macro-financial portion of the loan worth EUR 8.4 billion. To receive this funding, Ukraine must adopt legislative changes, including those regarding VAT on parcels under EUR 150.
