As of 1 July 2021, all parcels arriving from outside of the European Union – purchases from online stores as well as gifts from other private individuals – must be declared, irrespective of the value.

A parent can draw up a declaration on behalf of a minor. In the e-service environment of the Tax and Customs Board, a parent can select the user of their minor child upon logging in and declare the shipment in their name.

If the sender has not included the mobile phone number of email address of the recipient in the electronic data of the shipment, we will send the notification on paper. Please also keep in mind that electronic data is not the same as the data in the address card on the shipment.

An authorisation immediately initiates an automatic chain of operations for drawing up the declaration by Omniva. For this reason, it is not possible to cancel or revoke an authorisation made.

It is not possible to declare a shipment or pay for it at a post office.

Information about prohibited goods can be found here.

If a shipment includes prohibited items, the recipient may refuse to accept the shipment. In this case, the shipment is sent back or destroyed under the supervision of the customs officials.

If part of the shipment is compliant with all the terms and conditions for declaration, the shipment can be divided into parts, with only the part permitted in the specific country declared. The customs duties are paid for the permitted shipment in this case. Additional customs procedures must be completed in the case of dividing a shipment. All related costs must be borne by the recipient of the shipment.

If you have paid value added tax upon purchasing the goods from the online store, an IOSS number is added to the electronic data of the goods. On the basis of the IOSS number added, the tax authorities of the destination country will know that the taxes have been paid and the shipment will be released without any further tax claims (example: IM0000000001).

If the sender has not added a proper IOSS number to the preliminary electronic data, Omniva will receive a notification on the need to declare the shipment. If you have paid value added tax upon completing the purchase, you should contact the sender of the goods (online store) to receive the IOSS number.

Once you have the IOSS number, email it to [email protected] with the invoice of the goods or declare the goods yourself on the website of the Tax and Customs Board.

A customs declaration must be submitted in two cases:
1. The goods have been ordered from a EU country, but the country of origin of the goods is outside of the EU, such as China, the United States, Taiwan, Singapore, the United Kingdom, etc.
Online stores often fail to provide this information to the buyer and the person ordering the goods may mistakenly assume that the goods will arrive from the EU and will not be taxable.

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Pursuant to the laws of Estonia, import taxes must be paid on all shipments (incl. gifts) arriving from outside of the EU if the value of the shipment exceeds the tax exempt limit (in the case of gifts to private persons, 45 euros).

A parcel sent from one private person to another is considered a gift.
Gifts are taxed depending on the value of the gift:
- Gift shipments which cost up to 45 euros are exempt from value added tax, unless the shipment includes excise goods
- In the case of the gift shipments which cost more than 45 euros, value added tax is added

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In the case of warranty repair works, you will not be required to pay the import tax. If you dispatch a product to have repair works done and the fee for the works exceeds the tax-exempt limit, you should draw up the temporary transport declaration with the obligation of later import before sending the product. In this case, you will not be charged value added tax or customs duties upon dispatching the product. You can draw up the temporary transport declaration in the self-service environment of the Tax and Customs Board or via some other international logistics partner. Omniva does not draw up temporary transport declarations for private customers.
If you have not drawn up a temporary transport declaration, you will be required to prove when the shipment returns that it is the same shipment which you have dispatched for repair works. This can be done by using delivery documents and your correspondence with the seller or with the company which performed the warranty repair works.

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Only a parcel sent from one private person to another is considered a gift.
A gift shipment sent by or to a business customer is not considered a gift for the purposes of the tax law and is subject to taxes from the value of 0 euros.

If the goods included in one invoice arrive in different parts, please notify the customs authorities (the Tax and Customs Board or Omniva) upon the arrival of the first shipment that it is a partial shipment. Specify the number of the shipments to arrive at a later date and the tracking numbers of those shipments, if possible.
Email address of the Omniva customs agency: [email protected]

It is usually not possible to prove with a payment order that the payment was made for the specific goods, thus, it is not a suitable supporting document. Appropriate supporting documents are the invoice and order confirmation which state the name, amount, and cost of the goods.

The Omniva customs agency does not perform customs control. The customs control is conducted by the Tax and Customs Board, which selects the postal shipments to undergo further control on the basis of its internal work organisation and risk analysis. If the inspection concludes that the shipment is compliant with all requirements, the shipment is released by the Tax and Customs Board. Then, we will deliver the shipment to the delivery point of your choice within five working days. If the Tax and Customs Board decides to hold your shipment as a result of the inspection, you will be notified of this.

Pursuant to the law, Omniva holds shipments in the customs terminal for up to 30 days. After the 30-day period, the shipment is sent back to the sender.
If the sender has stated that they refuse to take back the shipment, the shipment is destroyed.

If you have authorised Omniva to declare your shipment, you will not be required to do anything else. When the goods have been released, we are notified automatically by the Tax and Customs Board and we will deliver the shipment within five working days to the delivery point of your choice, informing you in advance by text message and/or email, which also specifies the amount of the taxes and service charges payable.

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Shipments may only be opened on the basis of subsection 32 (1) of the Postal Act, pursuant to which a postal service provider has the right to open a closed postal item in order to:

1. protect the content of a damaged postal item or document its condition;
2. identify the sender of the postal item if the postal item is undeliverable;
3. enable the customs control of the postal item.*

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In the case of sending a parcel or a maxi letter outside of the European Union or an autonomous region of the European Union, the shipment must be accompanied by a customs declaration.
Shipments must also be registered in the customs in the case of temporary transport – for example, in the case of sending the goods to an exhibition or to warranty repair works.
Read more about sending shipments here and about receiving shipments here