Ukrainian parliament fails for second time to pass bill ending VAT exemption for parcels under €150
The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, voted down bill No. 15460, which would have abolished the VAT exemption for international parcels valued at up to €150. The bill received 194 votes in favour, 32 short of the number needed for passage. The failure leaves a key condition for IMF and EU financial assistance unmet.
Key points
- Verkhovna Rada rejected bill No. 15460 for the second time; 194 MPs voted in favour, 32 short of the votes needed
- Bill No. 15460 was registered by the Cabinet of Ministers on 31 July and recommended for consideration by the parliamentary finance committee on 26 August
- The bill would align the Customs Code with bill No. 15112-d on VAT for e-commerce transactions and give customs authorities oversight of postal and express shipments up to €150
- Authors estimated the bill could generate around 10 billion hryvnias of additional annual budget revenue
- Parliament rejected a similar bill, No. 12360, in May
- Ending the €150 VAT exemption is a condition for receiving Ukraine's third IMF tranche and the second €3.7 billion EU macro-financial assistance tranche
- If passed, the new VAT rules would not have taken effect before 1 January 2027
Why it matters
The bill's failure leaves the VAT exemption on international parcels worth up to €150 in place and leaves unimplemented a structural benchmark tied to Ukraine's IMF programme. The measure is also a stated condition for receiving EU macro-financial assistance, so continued inaction could delay both IMF and EU disbursements.
What happened
Bill No. 15460, developed to align the Customs Code with bill No. 15112-d on VAT for e-commerce, was put to a vote in the Verkhovna Rada. It received 194 votes in favour, 32 short of the threshold needed to pass. The bill would have set currency rules for calculating VAT on remote sales, expanded customs oversight of postal and express shipments up to €150, and brought marketplaces and their intermediaries into the list of parties liable for customs payments. It also included a transitional period shielding postal operators, express carriers and marketplaces from administrative penalties for incomplete or late VAT payment, provided the tax was eventually paid in full. Authors estimated the bill could bring in roughly 10 billion hryvnias per year. Parliament had previously rejected a similar bill, No. 12360, in May.
How Ukrainian sources describe it
Ukrainian media focused on the repeat failure of the bill, the number of votes cast and the shortfall in parliamentary support.
Background
Bill No. 15460 was registered on 31 July and recommended for consideration by the parliamentary committee on finance, tax and customs policy on 26 August. Under an updated memorandum with the IMF, Ukraine committed to adopting the relevant changes as a structural benchmark, with a deadline originally set for the end of March and later moved to the end of July — a deadline that was missed. If the law had been adopted, the new VAT rules would not have entered into force before 1 January 2027.