Tax revenues fall short of projections: what happened to the budget in January
2 February 17:20
In January 2026, tax revenues to the general fund of Ukraine’s state budget were nearly 8% lower than the State Tax Service had projected. This was reported by Lesya Karnaukh, acting head of the State Tax Service, according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
According to her, tax and fee revenues administered by the State Tax Service amounted to 79.4 billion hryvnia—91.8% of the target.
Why the start of the year proved difficult
The head of the tax service attributes the shortfall to military and energy-related factors. In a social media post, she noted that the start of the year coincided with power outages, heating supply issues, and constant shelling.
At the same time, Karnaukh emphasized that businesses, despite these conditions, “remain responsible taxpayers.”
One of the key features of January was a record-breaking value-added tax (VAT) refund. According to the State Tax Service, the government refunded businesses 24.3 billion UAH in VAT—the highest monthly figure for the entire previous year, when the average refund level was approximately 15 billion UAH.
In total, VAT payments in January amounted to 58.9 billion UAH, making this tax the main source of budget revenue at the start of the year.
Structure of Tax Revenues
In addition to VAT, the budget received:
- personal income tax — 29.2 billion UAH;
- corporate income tax — 3.3 billion UAH;
- excise tax on manufactured and imported goods — 7.3 billion UAH;
- rent payments — 4.1 billion UAH;
- other revenues — UAH 0.9 billion.
The State Tax Service notes that the negative impact of the war is already being felt in a number of key economic sectors, which directly affects the tax base.
According to the head of the tax service, the state’s task is “to provide maximum assistance to everyone who contributes to the country’s economy and fills the budget.” At the same time, the State Tax Service has already announced a reduction in the number of audits in 2026: 4,558 audits are planned—5% fewer than last year.
Against this backdrop, the agency notes that in 2025, the volume of official transactions increased by nearly a third, and the total number of issued receipts reached 10.4 trillion, indicating further de-shadowing of the economy.
