An apartment owner in Ukraine meets taxes five times: when buying, while holding, if letting, when selling, and when passing the property on by inheritance or gift. Each moment is governed by its own article of the Code, with its own rate and its own base, and no tax service publication brings them together. Below is the whole cycle in one table, with 2026 figures and a calculation for a typical Kyiv apartment.
The 2026 table
| Moment | Tax | Rate | Base | Who pays |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Purchase | Pension fund levy | 1% | appraised value | buyer (first home: 0%) |
| Purchase | State duty | 1% | contract price | by agreement, usually buyer |
| Purchase of a new build | VAT | 20% | inside the price per metre | developer, priced in |
| Holding | Property tax | up to 1.5% of minimum wage per m² | area above 60/120/180 m² | owner, once a year |
| Rent, individual | PIT + military levy | 18% + 5% | all rent | landlord, quarterly advances |
| Rent, FOP group 3 | Single tax + levy + USC | 5% + 1% + UAH 1,902.34/month | all rent | landlord |
| Sale, first of the year, held > 3 years | — | 0% | — | — |
| Sale, held < 3 years | PIT + levy | 5% + 5% | price, not below appraisal | seller, before notary |
| Sale, third of the year | PIT + levy | 18% + 5% | price minus costs | seller |
| Inheritance and gift, 1st–2nd degree of kinship | — | 0% | — | — |
| Inheritance and gift, other residents | PIT + levy | 5% + 5% | appraised value | heir |
| Inheritance and gift involving a non-resident | PIT + levy | 18% + 5% | appraised value | heir |
Purchase: 2% plus services
The two mandatory payments at purchase, 1% to the pension fund and 1% state duty, are calculated on the appraised value and the contract price. On top: appraisal from UAH 2,000, notary from UAH 5,000 in Kyiv, title registration at UAH 330 of administrative fee, one tenth of the subsistence minimum. All told a purchase costs 2–3% of the price, and up to 5–8% with an agent, as covered in the piece on hidden transaction costs.
A first-home buyer is exempt from the pension levy by law, but in practice notaries often demand it, and the money is recovered through the courts or an application to the Pension Fund. The notary's position is worth fixing in writing before the deal.
In a new build the buyer pays no separate VAT: the developer includes the 20% of the first supply in the price per metre. The secondary market is VAT-free, one reason a finished apartment from a private seller costs less than a new one of equal specification.
Holding: UAH 120 per extra metre
The only annual tax is property tax under Article 266: in Kyiv UAH 120 per m² above 60 m² of an apartment (the 2026 payment covers 2025), notice by 1 July, 60 days to pay. Mechanics, allowances and penalties are in the property tax piece. For a 75 m² apartment that is UAH 1,800 a year; for 58 m², zero.
Rent: 23% or 6% plus a fixed sum
This is where the fork costs the most. An individual letting an apartment pays 18% PIT and 5% military levy on the entire rent, in advances within 40 days of each quarter, with a return by 1 May and settlement by 1 August. On the Kyiv median rent of UAH 18,000 that is UAH 4,140 a month.
The same owner registered as a group 3 sole proprietor (FOP) pays 5% single tax, 1% military levy and a unified social contribution of UAH 1,902.34 a month regardless of income. On the same UAH 18,000: 1,080 plus 1,902.34, UAH 2,982 in total. The difference is about UAH 14,000 a year and grows with the rent. The line below which the FOP route does not cover the USC is about UAH 11,200 a month; with an outsourced accountant it is higher. The restriction for single-tax payers is residential area let out of no more than 400 m².
There is a third consequence: a let apartment loses the property tax allowance and is taxed on its full area.
Sale: 0%, 10% or 23%
The first sale of housing in a calendar year after more than three years of ownership carries no tax and no levy. Ownership under three years costs 5% and 5% of the full price, with no cost deduction. The third sale of the year, and the second and later sales of objects held under three years, cost 18% and 5%, but with the right to reduce the income by documented costs. Inherited housing needs no three-year holding.
The tax is paid before notarisation and no return is required. Separately: selling within three years and assignment in a new build.
Inheritance and gifts
Article 174 divides heirs into three groups. First and second degree of kinship, children, spouses, parents, siblings, grandchildren, grandparents, pay 0%. Other residents pay 5% PIT and 5% levy on the appraised value. If either party is a non-resident, 18% and 5%. Gifts of property are taxed under the inheritance rules: a gift from parents is 0%, from an aunt 10%.
A nuance for heirs: a later sale of an inherited apartment is free of the three-year condition, a gifted one is not. Between "gift during life" and "leave as inheritance" there is no difference in rate for distant relatives, but there is one for an heir planning to sell.
A year in the life of a one-apartment owner in Kyiv
A 75 m² apartment in Holosiivskyi district, bought in 2026 for $95,000, occupied by the family:
- at purchase: 1% pension fund and 1% duty, $1,900, or 950 for a first home;
- every year: UAH 1,800 property tax;
- on sale after four years: 0%;
- on transfer to children: 0%.
The same apartment, but let for UAH 22,000 and sold after two years:
- every year: property tax on all 75 m², UAH 9,000; rental tax UAH 60,720 as an individual or 36,028 as a FOP;
- on sale: 10% of the price, about $9,500.
The gap between the two scenarios over two years is around $14,000 of tax. That is the figure to build into any yield calculation, covered in detail in the landlord tax piece.
How to read it
Ukraine's housing taxes are asymmetric: owning and living is almost free, selling fast and letting "in the white" without a FOP is expensive. Analyst Ruslan Averin counts three decisions that capture 90% of an owner's tax savings: hold the object for more than three years, register a FOP when rent exceeds UAH 11,000, and never close two sales in the same calendar year. Everything else in the table is a fixed amount that is not optimised, only paid.