Ukraine sets new alcohol tax stamp roll-out for May 1

Ukraine is rolling out a new excise stamp for alcoholic drinks in order to crack down on the sale of illicit and counterfeit products and tax evasion.

The tax stamps will come into force from May 1 and will apply to all alcoholic beverages, according to the Kyiv Post, citing Ukraine’s Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk, who said: “We want to track all the goods that are subjected to excise duty so that we know how much is produced, consumed and being paid in taxes.”

It is estimated that around 50 per cent of all alcohol sold in Ukraine is illegal, risking the health of consumers as well as cutting tax revenues to the tune of up to 10bn hryvnia ($400m) a year.

The old paper tax stamps were massively forged, according to recent comments from Cabinet Minister Dymtro Dulilet, but adopting a full electronic tax stamp system was considered to be too expensive to implement as it would require significant investment in scanning devices as well as a national IT system to handle the data.

The solution was to apply barcoding technology to the standard excise stamps, which could be read using regular scanners already used at retailers.

The new stamps will carry both barcode and QR code components, with the former used by supermarkets to scan and check the bottles, and the QR codes allowing purchasers to verify the product and get information about it using a smart phone app.

The news has emerged as Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) intercepted 17 tonnes of illicit alcohol in the capital Kiev, making five arrests.

Image of Ukraine paper tax stamp sourced from Wikipedia