The Italian small parcels tax is postponed to 30 November

SATURDAY, 19 SEPTEMBER 2026

A third announced start date, a second one moved. Meanwhile the EU duty cut low-value consignments by 39% between July and August.

The Italian small parcels tax on non-EU consignments has been postponed again, until 30 November. It is not relief: the delay is there to wait for another European charge on its way, and meanwhile the three-euro duty introduced in July is already producing measurable effects.

The Italian small parcels tax: where things stand

The two-euro national levy on consignments worth less than 150 euro arriving from outside the European Union is set out in a draft decree-law before the Council of Ministers.

• New deadline for the Italian small parcels tax: postponed until 30 November 2026
• Previous start dates, then moved: 1 July, then 1 October
• Amount of the national levy: 2 euro per consignment
• Italian low-value imports, July-August against May-June: minus 39%
• January-August 2026 against the same period of 2025: minus 32%

The two percentages do not say the same thing and are worth keeping apart: the first compares two consecutive two-month periods of 2026, the second compares eight months with the eight months of the previous year. The first measures the immediate effect, the second the trend of the year.

Why the postponement is not good news for importers

The reason for the delay is stated: to wait for the European customs handling fee, which member states have committed to applying by November and on which the European Parliament voted on 16 September.

There is also a cost of postponement that appears in no table: three announced start dates and two moved within a few months make it impossible to set a price list. Anyone selling to the end consumer has to decide whether to absorb a charge that may not arrive or load it onto a price that may not need it, and neither choice is free.

The sense of the sequence, then, is not that the Italian levy disappears: it is that it is being coordinated with the European one. Anyone reading the postponement as a truce is misreading the calendar. The direction has been the same for a year: more charges on low-value consignments, not fewer.

The detail that costs more than it seems

Since 1 July the European three-euro duty on consignments under 150 euro has been in force. The most instructive figure so far is not the total revenue, which in July and August came to around 83 million euro, but the average amount per shipment: around 8.66 euro.

It is worth understanding why the average is almost three times the nominal value of the duty. The charge applies not to the parcel but to the goods categories it contains: a consignment with articles of three different kinds pays three times. Anyone who estimated the cost by multiplying the number of shipments by three euro underestimated the item, and finds out on the invoice.

There is a second element to keep in mind, and it is a caution about the figures just cited: the 39% fall was described as in line with what French authorities recorded, but it remains a snapshot of two months. A drop concentrated in so short a time can reflect a reshuffling of flows as much as a structural contraction, and two months cannot tell one from the other.

What to do in the coming weeks

The first point concerns the real calculation. If you import consignments under 150 euro, it is worth recalculating the full cost using the number of goods categories per shipment, not the number of shipments. It is the same exercise many did in July with the wrong parameter.

The second concerns consolidation. When the charge is per category and per consignment, shipping more articles in fewer consignments changes the arithmetic: it is not always worth it, but it should be calculated rather than assumed.

The third concerns the commercial calendar. Between late November and December the national levy and the European handling fee may add up: anyone setting price lists now for the Christmas period would do well to include them as an assumption, rather than chase them in January.

With La Merce, following the Italian small parcels tax means calculating the cost per goods category and not per consignment, and treating the postponement to 30 November for what it is: time to prepare, not a charge that disappears.

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