The article considers the legislative principles of customs policy and customs payments separately, analyzes the dynamics of customs payments over the past four years and draws a parallel with the economic results. For detailed consideration, an analysis of the effectiveness of customs administration was conducted. From the very beginning of the existence of duties and excises, and then value added tax, the question arose as to whether they should be introduced. Citizens have always complained and tried to smuggle goods or buy them at a lower price than from a domestic producer. At the same time, they did not understand that such a trend could lead to a decrease in the country’s competitiveness in the international market and cause even greater problems that will further affect the economy of the whole country. In fact, customs duties are an integral part of the development of the state and the formation of proper customs policy, as they are a barrier to foreign and domestic markets, maintaining a balance between them. Of course, in order to achieve full stability, it is necessary to constantly monitor the payment of such payments, and first of all to establish well-defined rules for their administration, so that neither citizens nor customs authorities can take advantage of gaps in the legislation. There are gaps in the legislation that create the problem of lack of tools to combat violations of customs regulations. For example, the law does not provide for mandatory sealing of vehicles and a lot of goods moving on the territory of Ukraine are not guaranteed by the importer. As a result, the load can simply be replaced or “drowned”. Similarly, control over the movement of parcels from the border to sorting points (so-called postal smuggling) is not provided for at the regulatory level. Thus, on the way of passing of shipments any machinations with cargo are possible. Thus, in order to properly perform customs clearance, it is necessary to improve customs legislation. This can be done by improving the legal framework that is, updating the rules for regulating foreign economic relations. First of all, this should happen with the customs and tax codes, and later with other related documents.