The Verkhovna Rada failed to support bill No. 15112-d, along with alternative bills No. 15112-1, 15112-2, 15112-3, 15112-4, 15112-5 and 15112-6, on scrapping the value-added tax (VAT) exemption for international postal shipments worth up to EUR 150.
At Tuesday's plenary session, 210 lawmakers voted to approve bill No. 15112-d, short of the required minimum of 226, with one voting against and 30 abstaining. A motion for a repeat first reading received 210 votes, while a motion to send the bill back for revision received 220 votes.
"Dear colleagues, I'm sorry," parliament speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk said, commenting on the vote.
Danylo Hetmantsev, head of parliament's finance, tax and customs policy committee, wrote on Telegram: "I want to apologize to all of Ukrainian business, to the processing industry, light industry, retail and so on, for the failure of legislative initiatives aimed at removing rules that discriminate against you compared with foreign competitors. On my own behalf, for failing to convince my colleagues, and on behalf of my colleagues, for whom I'm frankly ashamed. Today populism and schemes won. And apparently the Rada is no longer capable of difficult decisions."
He said the "price of this mistake" is EUR 4 billion in EU aid and the program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
"Financial catastrophe isn't on the doorstep. It's already in the room," Hetmantsev said.
According to Finance Ministry calculations, passing the bill would have allowed the state budget to collect about UAH 10 billion annually.
However, speaking to reporters on Tuesday, lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak (Holos faction) added that the bill was set to take effect only from 2027, that the government and the State Customs Service had not yet begun developing the necessary technical solutions, and that no funds had been allocated for this in the state budget.
According to the bill's explanatory note, it was drafted to bring Ukrainian tax legislation in line with EU Directives 2006/112/EC and 2006/79/EC on the common VAT system and the taxation of e-commerce.
The bill provides for mandatory VAT taxation of distance sales of goods (excluding excisable goods) worth up to EUR 150 imported from abroad for individuals through electronic interfaces (marketplaces). To this end, the legislation would define the terms "distance sale of goods," "electronic interface" and "electronic interface enterprise," along with rules for their operation, and establish a procedure for determining exchange rates for calculating and paying the tax.
At the same time, the bill preserves the VAT exemption for non-commercial postal items sent from one individual to another worth up to EUR 45 per package or shipment, provided they are sent free of charge and intended for personal use. Goods (excluding excisable goods) worth up to EUR 150 in unaccompanied baggage would also remain VAT-exempt.
The bill also provides for a VAT exemption on the distance sale of energy equipment and goods to supply the Defense Forces, and clarifies the VAT exemption for the import and supply of unmanned aerial vehicles by removing the qualifier "without weapons" from the requirements.
As previously reported, the Rada earlier on Tuesday, Sept 1, sent bill No. 15460, on Customs Code amendments to scrap the VAT exemption for international parcels up to EUR 150, back for revision.
Passage of a bill scrapping the tax exemption for international parcels worth up to EUR 150 was a condition for Ukraine to receive a third IMF tranche of about $0.7 billion and a second EU macro-financial assistance tranche of EUR 3.7 billion under the EUR 90 billion Ukraine Loan Cooperation Mechanism.
In its updated memorandum of economic and financial policies under the IMF's EFF program, Ukraine committed, as a new structural benchmark, to adopting this law by the end of July, whereas the original timeline required its approval by the end of March along with other tax measures.
