Mini tax on non-EU parcels: postponed to 30 November

Italian mini tax of two euros on low-cost non-EU parcels (up to 150 euros in value) postponed until November 30th. This is foreseen by the draft law decree in the Council of Ministers on the abolition of car tax, which establishes the postponement of the application of the Italian levy from 1 October to 1 December. A bridging postponement while waiting for what the EU will have to "set" shortly after the Council of the Union at the beginning of the month gave its approval to the introduction of a shipping tax on imports of modified value arriving from countries outside the EU perimeter. A move that serves to close the circle after the three euro community duty has already been introduced since July 1st.

Waiting for the EU shipping tax

By moving the tax forward, Italy aims to get in line to be ready in the starting blocks with its community partners for the debut of the handling fee. Except that the shift forward by another two months has a cost of 40.8 million. So far it has only been necessary to cover the deferral from July to September included for a total amount of 61.25 million euros, for the two euro mini tax was included in the provisions of the 2026 Budget law which introduced it, the hypothesis of application only from July. Now we will need just as many to get to the end of the year. Although it should not be forgotten that the fully implemented application from 2027 should have brought in around 245 million euros per year.

The amount bar

Much, however, will depend on where the Commission and the EU Parliament set the bar for the shipping tax which must become operational by November 1st. At the moment, according to some hypotheses circulating in Italy, the level could be between two and four euros. However, the first trends with the application of the duty have already led to a decline in imports of small value parcels from non-EU countries. Considering that the management fee would be cumulated with the duty, this could lead to a huge levy, also because the duty is calculated for each individual item in the shipment, based on the tariff classification and not the quantity. And it could have the effect of further discouraging imports of mini parcels from non-EU countries. After all, the underlying logic was precisely to target a flow of imports via e-commerce that have increased exponentially in recent years, reaching almost 5.9 billion items in 2025.

The sanctions system

This is also why the Council of the Union, in the reform of the customs framework approved at the beginning of the month, aimed to specify that e-commerce platforms from third countries that ship to the EU will be considered importers of goods and consequently responsible for carrying out all customs formalities and paying duties. Precisely to strengthen the concept and bind compliance with EU customs regulations and the payment of duties, a mechanism will be put in place with financial penalties of up to 6% of the annual value of the goods imported by the company in the previous year.