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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Currently, in Ukraine, international postal shipments valued up to 150 euros are not subject to VAT. However, the government is actively discussing the elimination of this exemption. Consideration is given to introducing 20% VAT on all parcels. That is, including those costing less than 150 euros. It is expected that the new rules may come into effect no earlier than in 2027 year.
Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko, in an interview with 24 Channel, explained what this initiative is really about and how it will affect Ukrainians during the war.
Why exactly in 2026 year did the government pay attention to the taxation nuances of parcels
Why now did the government decide to actively focus on the rules for taxing international parcels? What problem is this intended to solve, and what effect do you expect on the state budget?
The reform is intended to level the playing field for all market participants in Ukraine – both those who manufacture goods domestically and those who import them. The current tax exemption creates unequal conditions precisely for Ukrainian manufacturers. And this is unfair.
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At the same time, in recent years the scale of international e-commerce in Ukraine has grown dramatically, and with it the volumes of goods imported without VAT for goods up to 150 euros.
According to data from the Customs Service, in 2025 year international postal and express shipments brought in 167,3 billion hryvnias. 92,9 billion hryvnias or 55,5% of the value of these shipments were not taxed due to the existing exemption. As recently as 2023 year, this figure stood at about 40 billion hryvnias. That is, in just two years the volume of untaxed imports more than doubled.
The trend continues this year. For the seven months of 2026, the total value of international parcels already amounted to 136,3 billion hryvnias. Of these, 56,8 billion hryvnias, or 42%, were not taxed with VAT due to the exemption.
We are no longer talking about a small exception for individual citizens’ purchases, but about a substantial import segment.
Will the new taxing rules affect Ukraine’s budget
Ukraine is at war, and every additional hryvnia in the budget matters. Can it be said that introducing taxation of international parcels is primarily a step to find additional resources to finance defense?
The payment balance situation in Ukraine is difficult. The structural deficit of the balance of payments widens each year of full-scale war and for the current year stands at 50 billion USD. The government must take measures to slow the tendency of imports growing much faster than exports. In this context, measures like removing the VAT exemption for cheap imports are an important decision to improve the trade balance.
International financial assistance totaling from 40 to 50 billion USD annually offsets this gap but does not eliminate the structural vulnerability of the economy. Therefore, this is also a matter of wartime economic policy: supporting the domestic economy, creating jobs through expanded production, without creating artificial tax incentives for imports.
A showing trend is also evident over 7 months of 2026 year: import growth nearly eight times faster than export growth – plus 33% versus 4%.
And of course, this is a decision aimed at supporting the state budget.
How such a decision will affect the fight against the shadow economy
What is the main motivation for such a decision: increasing budget revenues or fighting shadow import?
When there is an unfair tax exemption that allows a significant portion of goods to effectively avoid taxation, this is not only a budget loss. It is also a stimulus for developing schemes that undermine fair competition.
Therefore, this decision has long been ripe and is a response to the demand of decent Ukrainian business. Today, due to the exemption, Ukraine receives huge volumes of goods that compete with Ukrainian-produced goods but are under different tax conditions, often with a preference. Often, this preference goes to marketplaces in countries unfriendly to Ukraine.
Ukraine is currently putting foreign manufacturers in a better position than our own businesses. Such a situation must be corrected. Ukrainian entrepreneur has always paid 20% VAT. Foreign online sellers and importers – no. Removing the exemption eliminates discriminatory conditions for national producers and for the first time in many years creates conditions for fair competition.
Dozens of business associations and individual companies publicly call for taxing cheap imports. This involves hundreds of companies and tens of thousands of their employees.
The existence of the current untaxed threshold encourages the use of international postal shipments to minimize tax payments. Large batches of goods are imported using parcel-splitting schemes.
Of course, this is also part of Ukraine’s efforts to formalize the economy, which is the basis of our cooperation programs with the EU and IMF. Ukraine is moving toward a model of taxing small parcels, already used in the European Union.
Attention! As Sergey Marchenko says, this reform will provide about 10 billion hryvnias in additional budget revenues each year. This is an additional resource directed exclusively to Ukraine's defense needs.
How removing exemptions from taxing will affect Ukrainian business
A large number of Ukrainian entrepreneurs purchase goods abroad. Has the Ministry of Finance assessed how the new rules will affect small and medium-sized businesses? Is there a risk that for some entrepreneurs this will mean reducing activity or even closing business, especially during wartime?
It is precisely Ukrainian business today that most needs fair competition rules.
Ukrainian enterprises pay VAT, create jobs, invest in production even under such difficult conditions today. At the same time, a significant portion of similar goods sold through foreign marketplaces benefits from the tax exemption. This creates unequal competition conditions and honest Ukrainian business effectively gets a worse start.
If a business model is built on importing commercial goods under the guise of small personal purchases up to 150 euros without VAT, such enterprises will be forced to reorganize their processes.
How will the VAT on all parcels affect Ukrainians
Many Ukrainians order goods from abroad because it is cheaper than buying similar goods in Ukraine. Won’t the new system worsen the situation for such people?
Introducing VAT on goods purchased on marketplaces does not necessarily lead to a proportional price increase for the end consumer. The final price will depend on the marketplace policy and the seller, discounts, logistics, competitive environment, etc.
A seller may partially offset the tax through their margin, adjust the base price, add a discount, and so on.
The reform aims to substitute part of the goods with Ukrainian analogues that previously were not economically viable to produce and sell. An increased supply of Ukrainian positions can also balance the price.
As part of the reform, the Ministry of Finance will introduce the IOSS – Import One-Stop Shop, which works successfully in the EU. For the buyer, the process of ordering and receiving the goods does not change: a person buys an item on an international marketplace, at checkout they immediately see the final cost with VAT and pay everything in one go. Then the electronic platform administers the tax and ensures its transfer to the budget. In other words, citizens will not need to calculate VAT themselves, submit extra documents, or pay tax separately. From a user perspective, the purchase process does not change.
Important! The minister emphasizes that the system launch is planned not earlier than 1 January 2027 year and only after confirming readiness of all players in the parcel market and implementing the necessary IT solutions. The new rules will take effect only when the system is ready.
Will taxing all international parcels reduce competition for Ukrainian sellers from Amazon, Temu, or AliExpress and allow them to raise prices? How does the state plan to protect consumers from such a scenario?
This is not about restricting competition.
Key international marketplaces will continue to operate in the Ukrainian market. Only one thing changes – all sellers will operate under the same tax rules.
It is fundamentally important that businesses compete with international platforms on quality, service, and efficiency, rather than under different taxation regimes.
An illustrative EU experience on competition and shipment volume: after the VAT exemption for cheap imported goods was canceled in 2021 year, supply did not shrink. According to the European Commission, in 2024 year about 4,6 billion euros of goods arrived in the EU in shipments valued up to 150 euros, and in 2025 year – almost 5,9 billion. Establishing uniform VAT rules does not close access to international e-commerce and does not halt its growth.
Moreover, in the EU since 2021 year VAT is charged on all commercial goods purchased from outside the EU, regardless of their value. And since 1 July 2026 year the EU has also removed customs relief for goods in shipments up to 150 euros and introduced a temporary tariff of 3 euros on goods imported into the EU to ensure equal conditions for European businesses.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "20% ПДВ буде на всі посилки: Марченко розкрив, навіщо уряд хоче змінити правила". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Channel 24.
