Ukrainians will not have to pay a 20% tax on purchases from AliExpress and Temu — Rada failed the vote
The Verkhovna Rada did not support bill No. 12360, which provided for the cancellation of the preferential threshold for international parcels valued up to 150 euros. There were not enough votes from deputies to send the document for a repeated second reading, resulting in the bill being rejected.
During the consideration, the parliament also failed all 11 amendments that proposed to exclude the provision on taxation of small international shipments.
If the document had been adopted, Ukrainians would have had to pay 20% VAT on virtually all purchases from foreign marketplaces, including AliExpress, Temu, Amazon, and other online platforms.
The initiative was part of Ukraine's commitments to the International Monetary Fund and the European Union within the framework of harmonizing tax legislation. The Ministry of Finance expected that the new rules would allow attracting an additional approximately 10 billion UAH per year to the state budget.
How taxation of parcels from AliExpress, Temu, and Amazon could have changed
Under the proposed mechanism, marketplaces could automatically charge VAT at the time of order placement. After that, the funds were to be transferred to delivery operators, who would remit them to the budget.
At Ukrposhta, it was explained that two VAT payment options were considered. The first — automatic tax accrual directly by the marketplace at the time of purchase. The second — payment of the tax by the recipient through the postal operator if the seller is not integrated with the Ukrainian VAT administration system.
Currently, delivery of Temu goods to Ukraine is carried out by several operators, including Ukrposhta, Nova Poshta, and Meest Express.
They also planned to automate the processing of international parcels
For VAT administration, they planned to use UCR — a unique parcel code. According to the authors of the initiative, this was supposed to ensure automated processing of international shipments, including consolidated parcels when several orders are combined into one shipment.
Ukrposhta noted that the volume of international shipments has significantly increased. If about 4 million kg of international shipments were transported in 2021, last year it was already 12 million kg.
The State Customs Service previously stated its readiness to switch to automatic processing of all international parcels if the bill was adopted.
Why business supported the cancellation of the benefit on parcels up to 150 euros
Business representatives supported the initiative, emphasizing that the current system creates unequal conditions for Ukrainian manufacturers and encourages companies to move e-commerce warehouses abroad, in particular due to the risks of air strikes in Ukraine.
The project was also supported by the relevant committee
As previously reported by Judicial and Legal Newspaper, the relevant committee of the Verkhovna Rada recommended the parliament adopt the package of bills No. 15112-d and No. 12360.
The documents provided that within the harmonization of Ukrainian legislation with EU norms, Ukraine would impose the obligation of VAT administration on foreign marketplaces and introduce automatic exchange of information about sales of goods through online platforms.
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