The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has approved a draft law that raises the profit tax rate for banking institutions to 50% starting in 2026. A total of 272 members of parliament voted in favor of this decision.
This is reported by Finway
Main Provisions of the New Law
According to the explanatory note to the draft law, the new profit tax rate for banks will be 50%, and banks are prohibited from reducing their taxable financial results by the amount of losses incurred in previous periods. This tax increase, according to the authors of the law, is expected to increase revenue to the state budget by approximately 30 billion UAH in 2026.
This is the third increase in the tax burden on banks in Ukraine in recent years.
Positions of the NBU and Additional Changes
The National Bank of Ukraine did not support this initiative. NBU Chairman Andriy Pyshnyy noted during a briefing that doubling the tax for banks will not ensure the expected increase in budget funds and may lead to an additional need for recapitalization of state banks at the expense of the state budget.
as it may “provoke the need for recapitalization of state banks at the expense of the state budget”.
Pyshnyy also emphasized that the banking sector already pays an increased profit tax rate of 25%, while for other sectors, this rate is 18%.
Additional changes were made before the second reading of the draft law, as reported by the head of the parliamentary Committee on Finance, Taxation, and Customs Policy, Danilo Hetmantsev. Among them:
- postponement of the launch of the electronic excise tax until November 1, 2026;
- exemption of banks from tax agent functions in cases of personal bankruptcy;
- extension until January 1, 2029, of VAT exemptions in the energy sector;
- extension until January 1, 2027, of VAT exemptions on drones, thermal imaging devices, anti-drone guns, and other defense equipment;
- improvement of rules for the High Level of Tax Trust Territory (White Business Club);
- abolition of the single tax for security activities;
- abolition of the obligation to calculate compensatory VAT liabilities for transactions exempt from taxation under the Tax Code;
- amendments to the Law on “Audit of Financial Reporting and Audit Activities”.