Shipping from the UK to Latvia: What UK Sellers Need to Know

Latvia sits at the centre of the three Baltic states — bordered by Estonia to the north, Lithuania to the south, and sharing land borders with Russia and Belarus. Its capital Riga is the largest city in the Baltics and one of the region's most important logistics and commercial hubs. Latvia has used the euro since 2014, and its 21% VAT rate sits in the middle of the EU range — useful context for UK sellers looking to expand into the Baltic region.

Latvia's VAT rate: 21%

Latvia applies a standard VAT rate of 21%, below Estonia's 24% and above Germany's 19% on the EU scale. For UK sellers without IOSS, that 21% is collected on delivery whatever the order value. On a £121 order (product plus shipping), the VAT component is £25 — roughly £31 at the door once the carrier's handling fee is added, and comparable to Czech Republic and Lithuania, which also apply 21% rates.

Without IOSS, VAT is applied to the total customs value — product price plus shipping cost — when the parcel clears Latvian customs, and the carrier collects it from your customer before handing the parcel over. IOSS-registered sellers collect the VAT at checkout instead, which removes the on-delivery charge for consignments where the goods alone (excluding shipping) are worth no more than €150 — though since July 2026 those consignments carry a flat €3 customs duty per item, billed to the seller rather than the customer.

Import duty on UK goods

Goods that genuinely originate in the UK enter Latvia duty-free under the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement — but only if the preference is claimed with a statement on origin on the invoice. Latvia applies the TCA uniformly with the rest of the EU, and since the EU abolished the €150 duty exemption on 1 July 2026, goods that miss the origin rules (or arrive without the claim) owe the standard EU tariff at any order value.

What's left of the €150 threshold

On 1 July 2026 the EU scrapped the €150 customs-duty exemption, so €150 no longer marks a duty-free boundary. What it still marks is the IOSS ceiling: IOSS collects Latvian VAT at checkout for consignments where the goods alone are worth up to €150, and those low-value consignments now carry a temporary flat customs duty of €3 per item (until 1 July 2028), charged to the seller or platform rather than the customer at the door. Outside IOSS, 21% VAT is collected from your customer on delivery at any value, plus a carrier handling fee — and standard tariff duty applies too, unless the goods are UK-originating and TCA preference is claimed.

A practical example

A UK clothing brand ships a parcel to a customer in Riga.

A £31 charge on a £105 purchase is a 30% surcharge — in line with most mid-range EU VAT markets. The landed cost calculation for Latvia is straightforward, and because Latvia prices in euros, checking a goods value against the €150 IOSS ceiling involves no exchange-rate guesswork.

Riga as a Baltic logistics hub

Riga's importance extends beyond Latvia's own market. Riga Airport is the busiest cargo airport in the Baltics. Riga Port has connections to major European shipping lines. Road freight corridors from Riga reach all three Baltic capitals within a few hours, making Riga a natural distribution hub for UK businesses serving the broader Baltic region.

For UK parcel shipments, standard courier networks (DHL, DPD, GLS) reach Riga in 4–6 working days. Some less common parcel routes to Latvia are less direct than those to western EU destinations — if your carrier does not have a direct Baltic service, parcels may transit through Finland, Germany, or Poland, occasionally adding a day to the transit time. Confirm transit times with your carrier before committing to delivery promises in Latvian marketing.

Latvia as part of a Baltic market strategy

Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania share many cultural and commercial characteristics. All three are EU members, use the euro, have similar income levels (Latvia is roughly in the middle of the three by GDP per capita), and have growing middle-class consumer markets with increasing appetite for international brands. Their combined population of around 6 million is not large, but the three markets collectively represent a coherent regional opportunity.

From a logistics standpoint, the three Baltic states are typically served by the same courier depot networks — a carrier with Latvia coverage usually has Estonia and Lithuania coverage too. Once you have established a shipping corridor to one Baltic market, extending to the other two is operationally simple. Addressing all three together in your EU export planning is more efficient than treating them as three separate market decisions. The hidden costs of UK-EU shipping apply identically across all three Baltic states, as they all use the euro and have similar customs processing structures.

Practical considerations

English proficiency in Latvia is high among the younger generation but lower among older demographics. If you are selling consumer goods to a broad Latvian audience, a Latvian-language option on your checkout or at minimum Latvian shipping communications will improve customer experience. For B2B exports to Latvian businesses, English is widely used and should present no barrier.

For UK e-commerce sellers shipping to Latvia, IOSS registration is still the step that changes the customer experience most: VAT is settled at checkout, parcels are not held at the door for payment, and delivery refusals fall away. Just note that the flat €3 duty per item on low-value consignments now sits on your side of the ledger, so price it in rather than treating IOSS as entirely free.