Rada backs return of 50% profit tax on Ukrainian banks in 2026
Ukraine's parliament has passed at first reading draft law No. 14097 amending the Tax Code to increase the corporate profit tax rate for banks from 25% to 50% in 2026, MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak (the Holos parliamentary faction) reported.
According to Zhelezniak's post on Telegram, the bill was supported by 262 MPs during the plenary session on Tuesday, October 21.
"This is already the third time parliament has approved a measure that was originally promised for just one year… And I'll remind you that this tax hike will fund populism and PR. That's UAH 15–23 billion in 2026 and about UAH 5 billion in 2027," Zhelezniak wrote.
In addition to raising the profit tax rate from 25% to 50%, the bill proposes collecting the tax at that rate every quarter throughout 2026 and in the first quarter of 2027.
In comments to Interfax-Ukraine, Danylo Hetmantsev, head of the parliamentary committee on finance, taxation, and customs policy, explained that the profits earned by banks are not generated through traditional banking activities but through risk-free operations with government domestic loan bonds and deposit certificates.
In his view, if the state allows banks to earn money from such operations due to certain market anomalies, it has the right to take part of that income to fund the army that protects those same banks.
"Another argument for making this right decision is our two-year experience implementing it, and we are very satisfied with the results. For example, in 2024, the budget received an additional UAH 53 billion," Hetmantsev added.