Customs & VAT on Parcels to Montenegro

The distinction decides everything. A commercial consignment is anything you bought — an online order, goods from a seller. A gift is a consignment sent free of charge by a private individual abroad to a private individual in Montenegro, which is occasional, contains goods solely for the personal use of the recipient or their family, and was sent free of charge (Art. 23(2) of the Regulation). A purchase the seller labelled "gift" is not a gift — customs looks at substance, not the sticker.

For commercial consignments: goods whose value per consignment does not exceed €150.00 are relieved of CUSTOMS DUTY (Art. 10(1) of the Regulation). The relief does not apply to alcohol and alcoholic drinks, tobacco and tobacco products, perfumes and toilet waters (Art. 10(2)). For gifts between private individuals: relief up to €45 per consignment (Art. 24(1)), with additional quantity limits for tobacco, alcohol and perfume (Art. 24(3)).

This is the most common mistake. The €150 relief covers customs duty only. Article 28 of the VAT Law lists import exemptions exhaustively and low-value commercial consignments are NOT among them — the list contains only gifts between private individuals (Art. 28(1)(9)) and goods in travellers' personal luggage (Art. 28(1)(8)). So an online purchase from abroad attracts VAT even though duty is 0%. The general rate is 21% (Art. 24); reduced rates of 7% and 15% apply to the goods listed in Art. 24a.

The import tax base is the customs value of the goods, increased by customs duty, excise, fees and other charges payable on import clearance, plus incidental costs (commissions, packing, transport and insurance) up to the first destination in Montenegro (Art. 22 of the VAT Law). The customs value itself already includes transport and insurance up to the point of entry into Montenegro (Art. 44(1)(5) of the Customs Law) — so postage is taxed along with the goods. The order is: customs value → duty → excise (if excise goods) → VAT on everything above.

For postal consignments the postal operator may lodge a declaration with a reduced data set if the value does not exceed €1,000 and the goods are not subject to prohibitions or restrictions (Art. 313(1) of the Customs Procedures Regulation). Goods relieved of import duties are deemed declared simply by presenting the consignment to customs together with a CN 22 or CN 23 (Art. 310(4)) — the recipient does nothing special. Where charges do arise, the debt is payable within ten days of receiving the notification (Art. 81(1) of the Customs Law).