Test period of eExcise should be extended to prevent underpayment of UAH 140 bln in taxes - Ukrtiutiun

 The Ukrainian Association of Tobacco Manufacturers Ukrtiutiun called on the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Digital Transformation, the Minister of Finance, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada and the Chairman of the State Tax Service to continue the operation of the eExcise electronic system in test mode until January 1, 2027, while maintaining the circulation of the paper excise stamp, the association said in its appeal.

The industry association recalled that in July 2023, the law on amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine and other laws came into force in connection with the introduction of electronic traceability of the circulation of alcoholic beverages, tobacco products and liquids used in electronic cigarettes. According to these changes, the eExcise system should be fully operational in Ukraine from January 1, 2026.

According to the manufacturers, the stage of software development of the electronic system is still not completed and is taking place in parallel with the testing of its finished elements. Full access to testing is planned to be provided only in November 2025 - two months before the mandatory launch.

The biggest problem, according to the industry association, is the limited test mode.

"The number of unique identifiers available in the test mode does not exceed 10,000 pieces, while the average daily production requirement reaches over 1.6 million excise marks per manufacturer or importer. The electronic system software will not be able to pass a stability test under real load conditions during limited testing, which makes it impossible to fully test it," the letter states.

Another problem is the limited time for business integration with the API (Application Programming Interface). The Ukrtiutiun association emphasized that economic operators will receive full technical documentation for the API no earlier than November, after which there will be only two months for testing, staff training, and launching the integration solution.

"This is objectively an insufficient period, taking into account the involvement of both local factories and foreign factories whose products are imported into Ukraine. Manual work is impossible - the production lines have a high speed (up to 500 packs per minute), which eliminates delays in processing," the appeal says.

The manufacturers warned of serious financial consequences for the state. According to them, each day of downtime of the tobacco industry will cost the state and local budgets more than UAH 400 million.