Shipments from e-shops are flooding Europe and the Czech Republic. Due to shortcomings in the European control system, tax evasion in the EU could reach EUR 10 billion annually
PRESS RELEASE ON AUDIT NO 25/01 – 1 December 2025
The single market, globalisation, and technological changes have led to rapid growth in e-commerce. Imports of low-value shipments worth less than EUR 150 are growing particularly fast. According to European Commission data, 4.6 billion such shipments were imported into the EU in 2024 alone. Compared to 2023, their number has doubled. A total of 91% came from China. In 2021, the EU introduced a new VAT administration system for cross-border e-commerce. It was supposed to be more simple and more transparent. However, it has a number of shortcomings and errors that allow tax evasion. This is estimated at EUR 10 billion per year for the EU as a whole. This was revealed by an audit by the Supreme Audit Office (SAO) focused on this issue.
In Czechia, too, the number of shipments worth up to EUR 150 and their total value have increased significantly. In the Czech Republic as well, data obtained from EU tools for combating VAT tax evasion was incomplete and unreliable, leading to non-payment or underpayment of this tax. From October 2021 to the end of 2024, the Czech customs administration cleared almost 11 million shipments worth up to EUR 150 containing more than 28 million items of goods worth CZK 5.7 billion. A sharp increase was recorded in 2024, when customs cleared shipments totalling CZK 3.7 billion, more than four times the value cleared in 2022 and 66% of the total value of goods delivered between 2021 and 2024.
The SAO found that the data obtained from the tools introduced by the European Commission to combat VAT tax evasion did not allow for reliable verification of the value of goods, and the Financial Administration of the Czech Republic did not have accurate and complete information at its disposal to determine and assess the correct amount of tax. The situation is further complicated by the fact that tax liability depends on the place of consumption, not the place where the goods are released for free circulation. The Customs Administration of the Czech Republic also lacks certain data from the EU register to verify the legitimacy of the use of the so-called import regime (applies to imports of goods from third countries in shipments up to EUR 150) by traders who have declared that the goods are of low value.
The Customs Administration conducted random inspections and found that traders were abusing the import regime to avoid paying VAT. Between 2021 and 2024, the Customs Administration checked 13,814 low-value shipments worth less than EUR 150, of which 3,312 were under the import regime. On average, one in three of the 3,312 shipments checked was incorrectly declared by the importer or intermediary.
VAT evasion also occurred as a result of undervaluing shipments. The Customs Administration proved this during an inspection of 861 shipments. In 61% of them, it found that the price of the goods in the transport documents and invoices was lower than what was actually paid by the final recipient. The aim was to unjustifiably reduce the basis for assessing customs duties and VAT. For example, one declarant submitted a customs declaration for goods worth USD 100, i.e. less than EUR 150. However, during a physical inspection, the customs office found that the shipment contained gold nuggets. The total value of the shipment was determined to be more than USD 2,500, which was the price paid by the final recipient.
The SAO audit revealed another interesting fact, namely how quickly suppliers react even to a slight increase in customs inspections. Here is an example from Mošnov Airport. Of the total number of 22.5 million items in shipments sent to the Czech Republic in 2024, almost 17 million arrived from China at Mošnov Airport. Customs officers inspected 23,243 items (i.e., 0.14%). This was enough to cause a significant decrease in the number of shipments delivered to Mošnov Airport at the end of 2024.
Imperfections or errors in the European VAT administration system complicate the work of tax authorities in searching for persons not established in the Czech Republic for VAT registration or in enforcing VAT from persons registered for the special regime. This regime allows sellers to declare and pay VAT on cross-border e-commerce in one EU country and, through that country, to pay VAT to other EU countries where the seller has customers. At the end of 2024, VAT arrears of almost EUR 55 million were recorded in the Czech Republic for traders registered for the special regime.
Communication Department
Supreme Audit Office