Rada committee backs return of 50% bank profit tax in 2026
On Tuesday, the Parliamentary Committee on Finance, Taxation, and Customs Policy recommended that the Rada adopt draft law No. 14097 as a basis. The draft law proposes increasing the bank profit tax from 25% to 50% in 2026 and prohibiting the reduction of financial results by the amount of losses from previous periods, committee head Danylo Hetmantsev reported on his Telegram channel.
A total of 16 members of the committee voted for this decision, said Yaroslav Zhelezniak, the first deputy head of the committee, who did not support this initiative.
According to him, this tax rate will be collected every quarter next year and in the first quarter of 2027. It is expected to generate UAH 15-23 billion in 2026 and approximately UAH 5 billion in 2027.
"Why are we introducing this tax? For us, this is an obvious issue, and we are communicating about it sincerely because the profit that banks receive is not from classic banking activities. They receive their profit from risk-free operations with government bonds and certificates of deposit," Hetmantsev, a co-author of the bill, told Interfax-Ukraine.
In his opinion, if the state gives banks the opportunity to earn money through such operations due to certain anomalies, then the state has the right to take some of that money to finance the army that protects these banks.
He cited a 1942 US law on the taxation of such profits as an additional argument.
Commenting on the criticism of the National Bank and commercial banks, Hetmantsev believes their counterarguments are unfounded. He says they were already expressed in 2023-2024 when the increased income tax was in effect. However, the risks indicated did not materialize.
"Another argument for making this correct decision is our two-year practice of doing so; we are very satisfied with the results. For example, the budget received an additional 53 billion in 2024," the committee head added.
He also noted that, this time, the Rada refrained from introducing this tax retrospectively.
