Tax discount in Ukraine: how to get back 18% of tuition, mortgage and other costs

What the tax discount is

The tax discount is the right to get back part of the personal income tax (PIT) your employer withheld from your salary. You list expenses allowed by the Tax Code in your return, and the tax is recalculated as if your income had been lower by those expenses. The difference is refunded to your bank account.

In practice it is 18% of the expenses, with two limits: you cannot get back more than the PIT withheld from you during the year, and the expenses cannot exceed your annual salary. The discount applies only to PIT: the 5% military levy is not recalculated.

Who is entitled

• Ukrainian tax residents who received a salary from which the employer withheld and paid PIT.
• You need a tax ID number (RNOKPP) or the corresponding mark in your passport.
• The expenses must actually have been incurred in the reporting year and be backed by documents.
• Sole proprietors can claim the discount only as employees, that is, on salary income. Business income does not count; sole proprietor taxes are covered in a separate article.

Which expenses qualify

Tuition and mortgages are the most common grounds, so let's look at them in detail.

Tuition discount

You can include payment for your own studies or those of your children, other first-degree relatives, persons under your guardianship, or your spouse. Ukrainian preschool, general secondary, vocational and higher education institutions qualify. Tuition paid abroad cannot be included.

The main restriction is a monthly limit per student. It equals the subsistence minimum for working-age people on 1 January of the reporting year, multiplied by 1.4 and rounded to UAH 10. For 2025 expenses that is 3,028 × 1.4 = 4,239.20, so UAH 4,240 a month, or UAH 42,400 for a 10-month academic year.

If two children are studying, the limit applies to each child separately. For 2026 expenses, which can be claimed in 2027, the limit rises to UAH 4,660 a month, because the working-age subsistence minimum is UAH 3,328 from 1 January 2026. How the subsistence minimum changed and what else depends on it is explained in our article on the subsistence minimum and minimum wage.

Mortgage discount

The discount covers part of the interest paid on a mortgage for a home where you are registered. It applies to only one mortgage and for no more than 10 consecutive years. If the home is 100 m² or smaller, all interest counts; if larger, proportionally: the interest is multiplied by 100 and divided by the actual floor area. Interest on a foreign currency loan is converted to hryvnias at the NBU rate.

How much of each payment goes to interest is shown in the bank's repayment schedule. How a payment is built up and how annuity differs from equal principal payments is explained in our article on annuity and equal principal payments.

How to claim it, step by step

1. Collect the documents: the contract with the educational institution or bank, payment documents for the reporting year, a certificate from your employer showing the salary accrued and PIT withheld, and proof of family ties (birth or marriage certificate) if you paid for a relative.
2. Fill in the return on property and income. The easiest way is the taxpayer's Electronic Cabinet: sign in with Diia.Signature, BankID, MobileID or a file key. Expenses go into annex F3, and the return states the IBAN for the refund.
3. File the return by 31 December 2026 inclusive if the expenses were in 2025. You can also file in person at your local tax office or by registered post with a list of contents.
4. Wait for the refund: the tax office returns the money within 60 calendar days of filing.

Common mistakes

• The wrong payer on the receipt. Payment documents must be in the name of the person claiming the discount. If the father paid his son's contract and the mother files the return, she will not get the discount for those payments.
• Unofficial salary. You can only get back tax your employer actually withheld and paid. Without an official salary, there is no discount.
• Expenses from the wrong year. A 2025 return covers only payments made between 1 January and 31 December 2025.
• Expecting 18% of the full amount. The tuition limit and the PIT paid often reduce the refund. With a salary of UAH 10,000 a month, UAH 21,600 of PIT is withheld per year, and no expense will bring back more than that.

You can work out your monthly PIT in the salary calculator: multiply it by 12 and you have the annual ceiling for your refund.

In short

• The tax discount refunds 18% of eligible expenses, but no more than the PIT withheld from your salary during the year.
• The most popular grounds are tuition at Ukrainian institutions and mortgage interest.
• The tuition limit for 2025 expenses is UAH 4,240 a month per student.
• For a mortgage, the discount applies to one loan for up to 10 years, and proportionally for homes over 100 m².
• The return for 2025 must be filed by 31 December 2026; the money is refunded within 60 days.

Sources

1. State Tax Service, Kyiv Region - tax discount for 2025 expenses: who is entitled and how to get PIT back (in Ukrainian)
2. Debet-Kredyt, citing the State Tax Service in Lviv Region - tuition tax discount in 2026: documents and deadlines (in Ukrainian)
3. Debet-Kredyt - the tuition limit under subparagraph 166.3.3 of the Tax Code (in Ukrainian)
4. National Bank of Ukraine, Harazd project - guide to the mortgage tax discount (in Ukrainian)
5. State Tax Service, Kyiv Region - brochure on the tax discount (donations up to 4% of income) (in Ukrainian)
6. Bukhhalter&Zakon - subsistence minimum in 2024-2026 (in Ukrainian)

This article is for information only and is not tax advice. Before filing a return, check the current rules and list of documents on the State Tax Service website or with its contact centre.