Former Georgian Deputy Finance Minister Zurab Dznelashvili believes abolishing the country's GEL 300 duty-free import threshold for postal shipments would be a mistake unless broader tax reforms accompany it. Speaking to BMGTV, he argued that simply removing the exemption would increase consumer bureaucracy by requiring customs declarations, product classification, and valuation for low-value imports.
Under Georgia's current tax code, individuals can import postal parcels worth up to GEL 300 and weighing up to 30 kilograms for personal use without paying VAT or import duties. Local retailers and e-commerce businesses have called for the exemption to be abolished, arguing that global online marketplaces such as Temu and Shein enjoy an unfair tax advantage over domestic sellers.
Instead of eliminating the threshold, Dznelashvili proposes adopting a system similar to those used in the European Union and other developed markets. Under his proposal, standard customs procedures would remain in place for imports exceeding GEL 300, while VAT on lower-value purchases would be collected directly by international online platforms at the point of sale and remitted to the Georgian state.
He noted that Georgia has already implemented a comparable model for digital services, requiring companies such as Meta and Google to collect and pay VAT on advertising services sold in the country. According to Dznelashvili, applying the same principle to cross-border e-commerce would create fairer competition while avoiding unnecessary administrative burdens for consumers.
