Customs clearance of a car in Ukraine: for whom they offer to keep benefits

At the end of May, the Verkhovna Rada registered draft law No. 7418, which provides for the abolition of benefits for imported goods. Especially a lot of controversy is around the preservation of benefits for customs clearance of cars from abroad.

As people’s deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak said on his Telegram channel, the bill provides for the return of VAT, excise, and duties on all imported goods, except for fuel.

“Probably, the authorities will propose to adopt the law in two readings at once”he remarked.

However, for a quick decision to be made, it is necessary that the majority agrees with the changes, otherwise discussions and amendments cannot be avoided. At the same time, the Verkhovna Rada has already registered an alternative draft law 7418-1, which supports benefits for customs clearance of cars.

According to Yaroslav Zheleznyak, there will be at least two more alternative draft laws, but they have not yet been officially registered and made public. The whole difference between them lies precisely in the issue of customs clearance of the car.

“The Cabinet of Ministers proposes to completely remove benefits, a group of deputies – to leave benefits for those who participated in the hostilities. They are preparing changes to maintain benefits for cheap cars and excise duty. They say that deputy Tishchenko will still submit something on his own.”– explained the people’s deputy.

During the day on June 9, a heated discussion is expected at a meeting of the profile committee. It is on its result that the final date when the law enters into force depends.

Features of bills

The registered draft law No. 7418 provides for the return of customs duties canceled for the period of martial law in Ukraine by law No. 2142. This is explained by the fact that many goods are not basic necessities and ensure the smooth operation of the economy, but they form the budget from taxes.

First of all, this applies to vehicles and phones. Over the past few months, import privileges for imported phones amounted to more than 270 million UAHfor vehicles – UAH 13 billionfor customs clearance of clothing and footwear – more than UAH 850 million.

Premium-class cars with a customs value of more than UAH 1 million are issued without paying customs duties. The reduction in taxation of imports also creates advantages for it compared to Ukrainian products. Given this, benefits are proposed to be canceled.

The authors of the alternative draft law No. 7418-1 emphasized that over the past few months, the statistics of lost cars has been heterogeneous, since in war conditions it is difficult to calculate the real number of losses. According to available estimates, this is approximately 200-500 thousand cars.

People’s deputies propose to leave right of preferential customs clearance vehicles for combatants. At the same time, do not mind resumed taxation for:

• goods imported by single tax payers of the first, second and third groups;
• enterprises that do not pay import duties.

They propose to establish temporarily for the period of martial law reduced import duty rate of 5% and VAT of 7% to operations for the import into Ukraine of cars, bodies for them, semi-trailers, motorcycles, vehicles for the transport of goods or 10 or more people.

What cars do Ukrainians choose

According to Ukravtoprom, despite the war, Ukrainians are actively importing cars into the country and enjoy free customs clearance. During the operation of the “preferential” bill, 111 thousand used cars were imported to Ukraine.

The average age of imported used cars is 14 years. Vehicles manufactured in 2020 and later make up only 1.3%. Most often brought the following cars:

• VOLKSWAGEN Passat – 7020 units;
• VOLKSWAGEN Golf – 6510 units;
• RENAULT Megane – 5716 units;
• SKODA Octavia – 4558 units;
• FORD Focus – 3023 units;
• VOLKSWAGEN Touran – 2882 units;
• AUDI A6 – 2813 units;
• AUDI A4 – 2770 pieces;
• OPEL Zafira – 2665 units;
• OPEL Astra – 2518 pcs.

At the same time, since the beginning of 2022, 180.2 thousand cars have switched to Ukrainian license plates. This is 13% more than in the same period in 2021.

“Today” wrote earlier that the return of value added tax (VAT) and duties on imported goods in Ukraine can already from July 1. And given the shortage of fuel in the country, drivers began to use an alternative, in particular, there was a trend for electric cars.