Income Declaration 2025 in Ukraine: Who Must File and Who Can Get a Tax Refund
From January 1, Ukraine launched the income declaration campaign for 2025. For many people, this word still sounds alarming, as if it refers to complicated bureaucracy or the risk of “doing something wrong.” But if you look closely, a declaration of property status and income is not a trap and not a punishment, but a tool. Simple in logic, though responsible in its consequences. Declaration is required where the state cannot automatically see your income. If a person works as an employee, receives a salary, and the employer withholds taxes every month, the state already has all the information and does not require anything additional. But as soon as money comes not from a tax agent, responsibility shifts to the citizen. This is exactly where the obligation to submit a declaration arises.
The simplest explanation is this: if no one withheld tax from your income for you, you must do it yourself. This applies to foreign income, payments from other individuals, entrepreneurial activity under the general taxation system, and independent professional activity lawyers, notaries, auditors, consultants. There are also other cases directly provided for by the Tax Code where filing a declaration is mandatory. At the same time, it is important to understand who does not need to submit anything or worry. If during the year a person received only a salary from which taxes were already paid by the employer, the obligation is considered fulfilled automatically. The same applies to inheritance or gifts from close relatives of the first and second degree of kinship such income is taxed at a zero rate. There are also property sale transactions that by law do not require additional tax payments, and therefore do not require filing a declaration.
Here it is important to dispel another myth: a declaration is not always about paying. In many cases it works the opposite way as a way to get money back. This refers to the tax refund. If in 2025 a person paid for education their own or their children’s, paid interest on a mortgage, made insurance contributions or charitable donations, the state allows part of the previously paid tax to be refunded. But only under one condition if these expenses are declared and supported by documents. So the logic is simple and understandable even without accounting terminology: you show expenses – you gain the right to a refund. To do this, copies of receipts, checks, and contracts are attached to the declaration. Without a declaration, this money simply remains in the budget, even if the person had a full right to get it back.
Deadlines deserve special attention. For those who are obliged to file a declaration, the final deadline is May 1, 2026. For those who submit it voluntarily to use the tax refund, there is time until December 31, 2026. This is a fundamental difference: an obligation has a strict deadline, a right has a more flexible one. Another important point concerns income received abroad. If a citizen of Ukraine officially works outside the country and pays taxes there, they do not need to pay them again in Ukraine. This is exactly why rules on the avoidance of double taxation exist. But here again the key word is officially. If income is declared and documented, no problems arise. If not, the risks fall on the taxpayer. At the center of this entire system lies one simple idea, which is often lost behind wording and lists of provisions: a declaration is about responsibility and rights at the same time. It shows that a person understands where state funds come from, and at the same time knows when the state owes them. That is why timely reporting is called a sign of financial culture, not just a formal obligation.
Time for Action reviewed all the confirmed information and the logic of declaration, and the conclusion here is quite simple: the system is not perfect, but it is much simpler than it seems. The biggest problem lies not in the rules, but in the fact that people often do not know whether they are obliged and what they can take advantage of. Meanwhile, a declaration is not a complex formula, but an ordinary report on what you earned and spent. Without emotions, without fear, without unnecessary dramatization. When the state asks you to honestly show your income, it simultaneously gives you the opportunity to honestly get yours back. And at this point, a declaration stops being paperwork for the sake of formality and becomes a tool that is worth knowing how to use.
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