What still applies to online orders up to €150?
Parcels up to €150 stay free of IGIC in the Canary Islands, Canarias7 reported on 1 November. The tax authority's June proposal to scrap this exemption will not pass in the current term of office.
That saves money, because shoppers pay IGIC on the same item in a shop, as retailers have complained for years. Online it falls away up to €150, for residents, people who have moved here and holidaymakers alike.
Above €150 nothing changes. Customs still demands a DUA (customs declaration), and IGIC is due.
According to the reports, Article 14.11 of Law 20/1991 excludes alcohol, perfume and tobacco from the exemption. We have not checked the text of the law itself.
Which costs do online shoppers still face?
EU Regulation 2026/382 has applied since 1 July 2026, with a flat duty of €3 on small parcels from outside the EU. Diario de Avisos says it is charged per item line, not per parcel, and it applies in the Canary Islands too.
Anyone ordering several different items from Temu, AliExpress or Shein therefore pays the duty several times. The platforms are said to collect it at checkout, and consumer groups warn of price rises.
Since 1 November, Canarias7 reports, a €2 fee for customs handling has been added. That figure rests on this one report, as Diario de Avisos mentioned a fee in June without giving an amount.
Couriers may also charge their own handling fees. A Xataka headline cites €6.99 more per order for Amazon Prime customers in the Canary Islands, but we could not check the article itself.
In practice, check the final price including duty and shipping before you pay. Up to €150, IGIC is only one part of the bill.
Why did the government want to scrap the exemption?
Finance councillor Matilde Asián of the Gobierno de Canarias proposed scrapping the exemption in June 2026. Her argument, according to Canarias7: “The importer has to file the DUA anyway to pay the three euros.”
Retailers in the Canary Islands have complained of unfair competition for years, Canarias7 writes. The sector argues that the EU dropped the matching VAT exemption in 2021, leaving the Canary Islands the only territory in the European sphere with no tax on such parcels.
Canarias7 dates the exemption to 2016, while other sources give different years. Back then, some carriers charged up to €30 to prepare the DUA and deliver the parcel.
In July 2021, then vice-president Román Rodríguez announced, according to RTVC, that the exemption for goods under €150 would stay. The aim was to simplify procedures and stop carriers' surcharges.
Why is the plan on hold now?
Scrapping the exemption needs a change to Law 20/1991 on the REF, the Canary economic and tax regime, and the state decides on that. Asián has heard nothing since the June proposal, Canarias7 says.
The early election is the Spanish general election on 29 November 2026, called by Real Decreto 806/2026 in the BOE (Spain's official state gazette) of 6 October. The campaign runs from 13 to 27 November, according to Diario de Avisos, and the new Cortes meet on 23 December.
With the Cortes dissolved, Canarias7 says only the next government will probably take up the issue. Retailers regret the delay and online shoppers welcome it, the paper writes.
How does the paperwork work for buyers?
For goods up to €150 the H7 declaration applies, as the state tax agency Agencia Tributaria describes it. Usually the recipient files it, or an authorised carrier does so on their behalf.
The H7 generates an exit certificate on the agency's portal, which serves as proof of the exemption. The IOSS procedure (F48) cannot be used in the Canary Islands.
For the time after the exemption ends, Canarias7 says no procedure exists yet. The platforms refused to collect IGIC themselves because the Canary market is too small for them, and a return of the H7 was only an idea.
The research does not make clear whether the H7 applies unchanged in 2026. Diario de Avisos says the government is examining whether it can keep the simplified model under the new EU rules.
What happens to the exemption after the election?
There is no date for a Canary decision on the exemption. There is no text in the BOC (the Canary Islands' official gazette) and no draft law, and the proposal was never adopted.
The earliest chance for a new attempt is the government formed after the 29 November election. Canarias7 gives no date.
At EU level, media expect a lasting solution around July 2028, with a customs data centre and the end of the €150 duty-free threshold. Until then, shoppers should watch duty and fees more closely than IGIC.