Sending a package to Slovenia: Costs, VAT and delivery time

Sending a parcel to Slovenia: What companies and online retailers should know

Slovenia lies at the crossroads of the Alpine region, Central Europe, the Adriatic Sea and the western Balkans.

The country borders:

• Austria
• Italy
• Croatia
• Hungary

and also has its own access to the Adriatic Sea.

This location makes Slovenia particularly interesting for European trade.

Key economic and logistics locations include:

• Ljubljana
• Maribor
• Copper
• Celje
• Kranj
• New town

Slovenia has been a member of the European Union since 2004.

Slovenia joined on:

1 May 2004

the European Union.

Since:

1 January 2007

The country uses the Euro.

At the:

21 December 2007

Slovenia also became part of the Schengen Area.

This integration brings several advantages for German companies:

• no standard import customs clearance
• no tariffs on ordinary Union goods
• common currency
• close road and rail connections
• simplified cross-border trade

Germany and Slovenia thus form a common internal market, even though Austria lies geographically between the two countries.

What documents do I need for Slovenia?

For a normal shipment of goods from Germany to Slovenia, no standard customs documents are required.

In normal business transactions, the following are typically used:

• commercial invoice
• delivery note
• Shipping label
• packing list (if applicable)
• Transport document (if applicable)

In road freight transport, for example, a:

CMR consignment note

should be used.

The following are not required for normal Union goods:

• CN22
• CN23
• ABD
• MRN for export
• EUR.1

This significantly reduces the administrative burden compared to deliveries to nearby non-EU countries.

Do I need a EUR.1 certificate for Slovenia?

No.

Slovenia is a member of the European Union.

An EUR.1 certificate is used as proof of preferential origin in certain trade transactions with third countries.

In a normal movement of goods:

Germany → Slovenia

It is not necessary.

The goods are not being imported into a new customs territory.

Therefore, even a certificate of preferential origin issued in Germany does not provide any additional customs advantage for normal Slovenian goods movements.

However, the origin of the goods can become important again if the goods are subsequently exported from Slovenia to a third country.

How does a B2B delivery to Slovenia work?

If goods are delivered by a German company to a Slovenian entrepreneur, a tax exemption may apply under the legal conditions:

tax-exempt intra-Community delivery

available.

One essential requirement is, among other things, a valid VAT identification number of the business partner.

Slovenian VAT identification numbers begin with:

SI.

The number should be checked before tax-free invoicing.

Furthermore, it must be proven that the goods actually traveled from Germany to Slovenia.

Therefore, in regular B2B transactions, the following information should be clearly compiled:

• Customer's VAT ID number
• on account
• Delivery address
• Proof of shipment
• Transport receipt
• tax reporting data

The fact that no customs duties are levied does not replace the VAT documentation.

What sales tax applies to sales to private customers?

Online retailers are subject to EU rules for intra-community distance sales.

In principle, a common EU-wide revenue threshold applies:

Euro 10.000.

If the legal requirements are met and the relevant threshold is exceeded, VAT is generally levied in the customer's country of destination.

For a private client in Slovenia, this means:

For goods subject to the regular tax rate, the following generally apply:

22% Slovenian DDV

relevant.

The retailer can claim this sales tax via the:

One Stop Shop, or OSS for short

explain and remove.

This means that separate VAT registration is not required in each EU country supplied solely because of these distance sales.

Do not confuse OSS and IOSS

For shipments from a German warehouse to Slovenia, the following applies in particular to cross-border B2C trade:

Health Care

relevant.

In contrast, IOSS applies to certain sales of goods where goods from a third country are imported into the European Union.

One order:

German warehouse → Customer in Ljubljana

Therefore, it is not an IOSS broadcast.

The goods are already within the European Union.

How long does it take for a package to arrive in Slovenia?

DHL currently specifies a transit time estimate of:

2 to 3 working days.

The current storage period is:

15 days.

The actual transport time can still be influenced by:

• Pickup time
• weekends
• Holidays
• Recipient address
• Weather
• selected shipping service

For urgent matters:

• Spare parts
• Production materials
• technical components
• Documents

Can an express service be even faster?

Write the address to Slovenia correctly

DHL requires Latin letters and Arabic numerals for the address.

A typical business address might look like this, for example:

ABC Tehnika doo
Vienna road 100
1000 LJUBLJANA
SLOVENIA

Slovenian postal codes consist of:

four digits.

Examples are:

• 1000 Ljubljana
• 2000 Maribor
• 3000 Celje
• 4000 cranes
• 6000 suitcases

Additionally, the following should be considered if possible:

• Phone number
• Email address

be transmitted to the recipient.

This data facilitates delivery notifications and can prevent costly returns due to non-delivery.

Ljubljana is the central economic and logistics center.

Ljubljana is located in the center of the country and is connected to all major Slovenian regions via motorways and railway lines.

For German parcel and general cargo transport, the capital is therefore a key target market.

From Ljubljana there are fast transport connections to, among other places:

• Austria
• Italy
• Croatia
• Hungary
• Copper
• Maribor

This results in short final transport routes within the country for B2B shipments.

The port of Koper makes Slovenia an international logistics hub

One of Slovenia's special features is its own access to the Adriatic Sea.

The most important port is:

Port of Koper.

Koper is integrated as a core port into the European TEN-T network and is located on two important European transport corridors:

• Baltic-Adriatic Corridor
• Mediterranean Corridor

The port has terminals for, among other things:

• Containers
• Vehicles
• RoRo traffic
• General cargo
• Bulk goods
• Liquid goods

The connection to the hinterland is particularly interesting.

The container terminal has daily rail connections to industrial and logistics centers in Central and Eastern Europe.

Thus, Koper serves not only the Slovenian market.

The port is also important for international supply chains heading towards:

• Austria
• Hungary
• Czechia
• Slovakia
• Germany
• other Central and Eastern European markets

relevant.

New Koper–Divača rail link strengthens freight traffic

In 2026, an important Slovenian infrastructure project was completed.

The new rail link between:

Divača and Koper

It was put into operation in March 2026.

It improves the port's rail connection to the Slovenian and European rail network.

This is relevant for international logistics because a significant portion of Koper's hinterland traffic is handled by rail.

The Slovenian government is also planning a further expansion of the line to create additional train capacity in the long term.

This project will, of course, change little for normal parcel shipping.

At:

• containers
• Automotive supply chains
• Machine
• large quantities of goods

In contrast, rail connections are an important location factor.

Slovenia lies on several European freight transport corridors.

The significance of Koper is part of a larger geographical peculiarity.

Important European transport routes run through Slovenia.

The Mediterranean Corridor runs through Slovenia, among other places, via:

Koper – Ljubljana – Maribor – Hodoš

towards Hungary.

Other corridors connect the country with Austria, Croatia and the states of the western Balkans.

This means that Slovenia is not only suitable as a sales market.

The country is also an important transit and logistics hub between:

• Adria
• Alpine region
• Mitteleuropa
• Eastern Europe
• western Balkans

Automotive and mechanical engineering create regular B2B flows of goods.

Slovenian industry is strongly integrated into European production networks.

Particularly relevant are:

• Automotive
• Engineering
• Metalworking
• Electrical Engineering
• Electronics

The Slovenian automotive industry encompasses both vehicle production and numerous specialized suppliers.

This regularly creates delivery requirements for:

• Components
• Spare parts
• Tools
• Sensors
• Electric motors
• Automation
• Production material

For such goods, the combination of short parcel transit times and direct road freight transport can be particularly interesting.

Pharmaceuticals and medical technology are also important

Besides automotive and mechanical engineering, pharmaceutical and medical products are among the important Slovenian industrial sectors.

This could be of interest to German B2B suppliers, for example:

• Laboratory equipment
• Production components
• packaging technology
• Measuring devices
• Automation systems
• technical spare parts

However, for temperature-controlled or particularly sensitive goods, it should be checked whether a classic parcel service is even the appropriate transport method.

Shipping pallets and machinery to Slovenia

Road freight transport is particularly relevant for larger shipments.

Suitable goods include, for example:

• Pallets
• Machine
• Industrial equipment
• several packages
• heavy spare parts
• Production material

Depending on the scope, the following are possible:

• General cargo
• Part load
• Full load
• Direct journey

Since Germany and Slovenia both belong to the European Union, goods do not normally have to be declared for import at the Slovenian border.

This reduces the risk of delays compared to neighboring third-country markets.

You can find out more at International freight shipping for businesses.

Intrastat can be relevant for larger flows of goods.

Even if no normal customs declaration is required, statistical reporting obligations may arise in the case of larger intra-Community movements of goods.

This includes:

Intrastat.

Whether a company is required to report depends on several factors, including:

• Scope of goods movements
• Product direction
• current reporting thresholds

.

Companies with high regular delivery volumes to Slovenia should therefore check whether their goods movements need to be reported statistically.

The absence of a customs border does not automatically mean that European statistical authorities lose interest in goods.

Automate shipping data for regular deliveries

With regular shipments to Slovenia, much of the information becomes repetitive.

These include:

• Recipient address
• Product name
• Weight
• Package dimensions
• Order number
• Shipping service

This data can be automatically transferred to the shipping process via shop and ERP connections.

This allows, for example:

• Automatically generate shipping labels
• Compare carriers and prices
• Replay tracking data
• Sync shipping status
• Reduce manual input errors

You can find out more at Automate shipping documents and reduce errors.