Ukrposhta explained how VAT will apply to parcels from AliExpress, Temu, and Amazon

Purchases on AliExpress, Temu, and Amazon will continue to be processed by Ukrainians mostly as before, but VAT will be embedded directly into the product price on the site. This was explained on the YouTube show Business Breakfast by the head of Ukrposhta, Ihor Smilyansky, who described the technical side of the new parcel taxation rules. He noted that the postal operator joined the preparation of the document well in advance to avoid logistics-related inconveniences. The biggest novelty will concern the method of paying the tax, not the purchasing process itself or receiving the shipment.

In particular, Smilyansky said that the postal operator managed to remove from the law text the provision that would obligate each foreign trading platform to open a Ukrainian subsidiary and register as a local taxpayer. As dev.ua reports, the head of the state-owned company called such an idea a real utopia.

For customers of Chinese platforms, where about three million Ukrainians place orders monthly, the purchasing process will hardly change—AliExpress and Temu already have a well-established digital interaction with the postal operator. As soon as the shipment leaves China, customs immediately receives data for risk assessment and to check limits.

The new rules provide the following workflow for different platforms:

on AliExpress and Temu VAT will be embedded into the product price on the site immediately;

duty can be paid in the Ukrposhta app without paperwork;

the average cost of a shipment from Chinese platforms is about 10-11 dollars, and after introducing the tax the price of such a basket will increase by about two dollars;

Amazon does not plan to programmatically integrate with Ukrainian customs due to the relatively small size of the local market;

an Amazon customer will receive a notification in the mobile app demanding to pay 20% VAT themselves;

if the payment is not received, the system will automatically return the parcel to the sender.

"To avoid black holes, we must track the product from the border to the checkout. I expect the same persistence from large players in fighting shadow channels as in the VAT issue. If this does not happen, we will have to return to new legislative measures," said Ukrposhta head Ihor Smilyansky.

The tax will apply to purchases on foreign marketplaces valued up to 150 euros, and it must be assessed and paid by the platform itself or an intermediary designated by it, if it is not a resident of Ukraine. Non-commercial parcels valued up to 45 euros are exempt from taxation. The VAT rate will be 20% and will be automatically included in the product price at the time of purchase.

Earlier, Informator reported that 22, Zelensky signed laws No. 5025-IX and No. 5026-IX, which introduce VAT on goods from foreign marketplaces, and that the new norms will come into effect no earlier than July 2027 of the year. We also wrote that according to the State Customs Service, goods on Temu and AliExpress will become more expensive by 20 percent after the new tax is introduced, and the changes will affect purchases regardless of order value.