Customs & taxes

EV customs clearance in Ukraine 2026: the VAT exemption is gone — what you pay now

From 1 January 2026, Ukraine ended the VAT exemption on customs clearance (rozmytnennia) of electric cars. This is the year’s biggest change for anyone importing an EV from the EU or the USA. Duty is still 0% and excise stays symbolic — €1 per 1 kWh of battery capacity — but a 20% VAT now applies. In practice, clearance became roughly one-fifth of the car’s value more expensive. Below is what it really costs, worked through on a specific battery.

In short: clearing an EV in 2026 = 0% duty + €1/kWh excise + 20% VAT. The break applies only to pure electric cars (BEV) — hybrids (HEV) are cleared like a combustion car. Companies can later reclaim the VAT.

What exactly changed on 1 January 2026

Zero VAT on EV imports had run since 2018 as an incentive for “green” transport, via transitional provisions of Ukraine’s Tax Code. The 2026 budget did not extend the break, so from 1 January 2026 all EVs are taxed under the general rules — 20% VAT. The drivers are the state’s wartime budget needs and alignment with EU directives, under which a zero VAT rate is not allowed.

What did not change: duty on passenger EVs (HS code 8703 80) stays 0% — a permanent line in Ukraine’s Customs Tariff, not a time-limited break. Excise is unchanged too: €1 per kilowatt-hour of battery capacity. The pension-fund levy on first registration was also removed.

What EV clearance is made of in 2026

Three items, calculated in this order:

Duty — 0% of customs value. Always zero for a passenger EV, whatever the country of origin (EU, USA, China).
Excise — €1 × battery capacity in kWh. A 60 kWh battery = €60. A 77 kWh battery = €77. It is the lowest and most predictable tax — you can compute it before the car even reaches the border.
VAT — 20% of the base = (customs value + duty + excise). From 2026 this is the main cost of clearing an EV.

Example: clearing an EV worth €20,000

Take a popular EV with a 77 kWh battery and a customs value of €20,000:

Duty (0%)	€0
Excise (77 kWh × €1)	€77
VAT base (20,000 + 0 + 77)	€20,077
VAT (20%)	€4,015
Total clearance	≈ €4,092

Before 2026 the same car would have cleared for €77 (excise only). The difference is almost the entire VAT — about €4,000. The final figure depends on the customs value (which the customs office may adjust against its reference base) and the NBU euro rate on the clearance date.

Compute your EV’s clearance in the customs calculator →
Before buying a car in the EU to export: check what it is really worth → VARTOCAR report 49 zł

EV or hybrid — mind the classification

The break applies to pure electric cars (BEV) only. Classic hybrids (HEV), where the combustion engine and battery drive the wheels together, are cleared like an ordinary combustion car: 10% duty, excise by the formula “rate × displacement ÷ 1000 × age”, and 20% VAT — usually several times more than for an EV. Plug-in hybrids (PHEV) are in some cases treated as EVs (fixed excise), but there are few such models — check the specific car’s HS code before buying.

Companies: the VAT is recoverable

When a company (a legal entity registered for VAT) imports an EV, the 20% VAT paid at clearance is later recoverable under the general rules. For a business, the real clearance cost returns to its pre-2026 level — excise is what matters. For a private individual, the VAT is a non-recoverable cost.

Is an EV still worth it

Despite the VAT, an EV usually stays cheaper to clear than a comparable combustion car, because it carries zero duty and a symbolic battery-based excise instead of an excise that grows with engine size and age. The scale of the advantage changed, not its direction. But before you buy a specific car in the EU to export to Ukraine, compute the clearance and check whether the asking price itself is fair — a calculator gives you the tax, but not whether you are overpaying for the car.

This material is informational and is not legal or tax advice. Rates and the NBU euro rate change — confirm the final amount in the official customs calculator before clearing. Have an unusual tax situation on import? Consult a lawyer specialising in tax law.

Need to finance the purchase? Compare loans and accounts: Finumero →

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

How much is VAT on EV customs clearance in Ukraine in 2026? 20% of the base, which is the customs value plus duty (0%) and excise. VAT was reinstated on 1 January 2026 — before that EVs were exempt.

What is the excise on an EV in 2026? €1 for every kilowatt-hour of battery capacity. A 60 kWh battery is €60, a 77 kWh battery is €77. Excise did not change in 2026.

Did duty on EVs rise in 2026? No. Duty on passenger EVs stays 0% — a permanent line in Ukraine’s Customs Tariff, not a temporary break. Only VAT changed.

Does a hybrid get the same break as an EV? No. Classic hybrids (HEV) are cleared like a combustion car: 10% duty, excise by engine size and age, and 20% VAT. The preference applies only to pure EVs (BEV).