Partial Unemployment Assistance for a Store and Sole Proprietor: Eligibility, Calculations, and How to Apply

A store may apply for partial unemployment assistance for its employees if a temporary reduction in business activity has caused a sufficient decrease in their working hours and wages. An insured sole proprietor may also receive assistance for themselves if their working hours and income have decreased. Before applying, check the reduction percentages, payment of the Unified Social Contribution (USC), absence of debts and other grounds for refusal, and submit the application within 90 calendar days from the start of the suspension or reduction in activity.

A drop in sales revenue alone, or introducing fewer shifts, is not enough to qualify for payments. The employment center will check the reason for the reduction, insurance records, and documents confirming lost working hours and income. The rules are set out in Article 47 of the Law “On Employment of the Population” and Procedure No. 702.

Who applies for assistance: the employer or the sole proprietor

The assistance supports an insured person who has lost part of their wages or income because activity was temporarily suspended or reduced for economic or technological reasons, due to an emergency, the introduction of a state of emergency or martial law, or the imposition of quarantine. The definition covers the production of goods, performance of work, and provision of services, while Procedure No. 702 links it to a temporary reduction in business activity. For a store, the specific circumstances must be shown to have affected employees’ working hours and earnings.

An employee does not submit an individual application in place of the employer. A sole proprietor may receive assistance personally only if they are not receiving it as an employee. This division of applicants and payments is set out in clause 8 of Procedure No. 702.

How to check the reduction thresholds for a store and a sole proprietor

For employees: at least 20% of staff, with hours and wages reduced by 30% or more

Under clause 6 of Procedure No. 702, the reduction must affect at least 20% of the employer’s workforce. For these employees, working hours and wages must each decrease by 30% or more in a month. Both indicators must meet the threshold: reducing only hours or only wages does not satisfy this condition.

Illustrative example. An employer has 10 employees. Two employees’ monthly working hours fell from 160 to 104, and their wages fell from UAH 9,000 to UAH 5,850. Their share of the workforce is 2 ÷ 10 × 100% = 20%. The reduction in hours is (160 − 104) ÷ 160 × 100% = 35%, and the reduction in wages is (9,000 − 5,850) ÷ 9,000 × 100% = 35%. The numerical criteria are met, but eligibility also depends on the remaining conditions. If the same reduction affected only one of the 10 employees, the share would be 10%, which does not meet the workforce threshold.

For a sole proprietor: working hours and income must each fall by at least 30%

For an insured sole proprietor applying personally, clause 6 requires working hours and income to fall by 30% or more in a month. The 20% workforce threshold applies to assistance for employees. If the proprietor applies both personally and for employees, they must check both sets of conditions.

Illustrative example. If a store’s sales revenue falls by 40% but the proprietor continues working the same number of hours, the sales figure alone is not enough. The sole proprietor must confirm that their own working hours and income have decreased. Sales revenue in a sales report cannot, without additional substantiation, be entered as the proprietor’s personal income.

USC, debts, and other circumstances that affect eligibility

Under part 4 of Article 47 of the Law and clauses 5–6 of Procedure No. 702, the USC must have been paid for the relevant employee or by the sole proprietor during the last six months before the month in which activity was suspended or reduced. This check applies to each person for whom assistance is claimed.

A special rule applies when the law exempts someone from paying the USC. If, during the last six months before applying, legislation entitled the relevant employer or sole proprietor not to pay the USC, the preceding 180 calendar days before that period are used instead. A voluntary decision not to pay the contribution does not create this exception. In such a case, you can prepare evidence of the legal grounds for the exemption and payment records for the period subject to review.

Article 47 of the Law and clauses 6–7 of Procedure No. 702 set out the following restrictions:

• During the six months before the month in which the reduction began, the employer or sole proprietor must not have wage arrears, USC arrears, or arrears in insurance contributions for compulsory state pension insurance.
• Debt to the state or local budget that has remained unpaid for more than six months before the month in which the reduction began is grounds for refusal.
• Assistance is not available if the reduction is seasonal or arose exclusively for organizational and production-related reasons. Procedure No. 702 includes, among other things, repurposing, technical re-equipment, a change in technology, and switching to other raw materials to address the causes of the suspension.
• The applicant must not be in the process of winding up a legal entity or ending business activity, declared bankrupt, subject to bankruptcy proceedings or open liquidation proceedings, undergoing rehabilitation, or acknowledging that they cannot meet obligations to creditors on time because of an unsatisfactory financial and business position.
• The employer must not be a compulsory state social insurance fund.
• Assistance is not available to employees of state authorities, local self-government bodies, or institutions, establishments, and organizations they have created that are funded entirely from the state or local budget.

An individual employee is excluded as a recipient if their employment with this employer is secondary employment, if they perform alternative (non-military) service, or if they have refused suitable full-time employment or a temporary transfer to suitable full-time work with this employer.

How to account for state aid limits during martial law

Under the general rules in clauses 7 and 9 of Procedure No. 702, partial unemployment assistance combined with other state support or aid, regardless of its type or source, cannot exceed the de minimis aid limit set by the Law “On State Aid to Business Entities.” Clause 14 requires information about business activity and all de minimis aid received in the last three years, including its form and purpose. Clause 20 governs submitting such information for the previous month; if there was no other state aid besides partial unemployment assistance, this monthly information is not submitted.

During martial law, the exception in clause 27-1 of Procedure No. 702 applies: these limits on the combined amount and the requirements for information about business activity and de minimis aid do not apply. This exception does not remove the checks for USC payments, debts, reduction percentages, or other eligibility conditions.

Why downtime, unpaid leave, and suspension of an employment contract need separate records

Under clause 8 of Procedure No. 702, assistance is not paid to an employee for a period covered by downtime pay, unpaid leave, or suspension of employment relations. Therefore, an order placing employees on downtime does not, by itself, establish eligibility for this assistance. Records must separate reduced-activity hours claimed for payment from periods for which assistance is unavailable.

Suspension of an employment contract has its own legal grounds: under Article 13 of Law No. 2136-IX, armed aggression must make it impossible for both parties to perform their obligations under the contract. A fall in sales does not establish this circumstance automatically.

If a reduction in activity requires a change to essential working conditions or pay terms, the employer must document those changes separately. During martial law, part 2 of Article 3 of Law No. 2136-IX requires the employee to be notified no later than before the new conditions take effect. An application for assistance does not replace employment records. Likewise, exemption from liability for delayed wages due to proven circumstances of hostilities does not cancel the obligation to pay them; Article 10 of this Law states this expressly.

How to prepare records that can be checked

You can use the following recommended preparation process to organize your work. This is a possible workflow for a store; Procedure No. 702 determines the mandatory contents of the application and its attachments.

1. Record when and why the reduction began. Documents about changes to the store’s operations can state the date, the actual economic or technological circumstances or the impact of the relevant emergency or martial law, as well as the departments and employees affected.
2. Compare staffing levels, hours, and wages. For each employee, you can compile normal monthly working hours, hours actually worked, hours cut, wages, and reduction percentages. A separate calculation will show the share of staff that meets the criteria.
3. Separate periods for which payment is unavailable. Timesheets, orders, and calculations should be consistent about paid downtime, unpaid leave, and suspended contracts.
4. Check insurance and payment records. You can reconcile submitted reports, payment documents, and account balances for the USC, wages, and budget payments. If a legal USC exemption applies, determine the review period correctly.
5. For a sole proprietor, prepare information about their own activity. Time and income records must make it possible to verify the 30% reduction. The USC assessment base data is also needed separately to calculate the amount of assistance.

This set of working records does not mean every document must be attached to the initial application. It can help substantiate the information if the employment center asks for an explanation or conducts a review.

Under clause 14 of Procedure No. 702, an employer attaches employee information using Appendix 1 to the application. A sole proprietor applying personally submits information using Appendix 2. If a sole proprietor applies for themselves and their employees, they submit both forms. Information about business activity and de minimis aid is submitted subject to the exception during martial law.

USC payments and budget account balances are confirmed through information exchange between the employment service, the State Tax Service (STS), and the Pension Fund. If the required information is unavailable, the applicant submits an extract from the STS information system showing the status of settlements with the budget and earmarked funds, including the USC. Information about insured persons is checked against Pension Fund records. These mechanisms are set out in clauses 15–16-1 of Procedure No. 702.

Where to submit the application and when to expect a decision

The application deadline is 90 calendar days from the day activity was suspended or reduced. Under clauses 12–13 of Procedure No. 702, submit the application to the employment center where the business operates. The regional employment center makes the decision.

The applicant may apply in person or submit an application through the Diia Portal, if technically available. The Procedure does not support treating any email submission as equivalent to filing through Diia. To apply through the portal, the applicant needs an electronic account, must complete identification, and must have the application and attached information signed by the director, an authorized person, or the sole proprietor. A qualified electronic signature or the advanced signature allowed under the Procedure may be used, including Дія.Підпис (Diia.Signature, the Ukrainian service’s signature feature). To apply through Diia, the director, the employer’s authorized representative, or the sole proprietor must have a valid Passport of a Citizen of Ukraine, Passport of a Citizen of Ukraine for Travel Abroad, permanent residence permit, or temporary residence permit.

The recommended way to organize the application is to obtain current forms from the employment center and keep proof of submission with the date. This makes it possible to track the 90-day deadline and the subsequent review periods.

A notice that an application has been put on hold pending correction of deficiencies must identify the specific deficiencies, cite the requirements that were not met, explain how and when to correct them, and state the appeal procedure. If the employer corrects the deficiencies within the set period, the original submission date remains the filing date, and the review period is extended by the time the application was on hold. The center may not put the application on hold again because of the specified deficiencies once they have been corrected. Before a decision is made, the employer may submit explanations, documents, and other evidence.

Separately, clause 17 of Procedure No. 702 provides for the employer or sole proprietor to be notified within five working days about an incomplete package or errors. After supplementing or revising the application, the applicant may reapply within five working days of receiving the notice, and the decision on the resubmitted documents is made within five working days. If you receive a notice, determine which procedure the center has applied and what response deadline it specifies.

A refusal may be appealed administratively under the Law “On Administrative Procedure” and/or to an administrative court, as provided by clause 19 of Procedure No. 702. If an employer or sole proprietor was refused for reasons beyond their control, clause 18 allows them to reapply for funds to pay assistance to employees within the period of suspension or reduction in activity. This clause does not expressly provide for a sole proprietor to reapply for personal assistance.

How to calculate the amount of assistance

Under clause 9 of Procedure No. 702, assistance is calculated for each month in proportion to the working time reduced:

Assistance = AWR ÷ NWH × RWH.

• AWR for an employee is the pay rate or salary for the relevant month; for a non-tariff pay system, it is the average wage.
• AWR for a sole proprietor is the average monthly USC assessment base for the year before the year of application, based on the relevant reports. If no such base is available, use the average base for the six months before the date activity was suspended or reduced during which the proprietor paid the USC.
• NWH is the number of normal working hours for the relevant month.
• RWH is the number of hours by which working time was reduced during the relevant month.

The calculation uses the hours lost due to the reduction. If an employee works 104 of the normal 160 hours, use 56 reduced hours in the formula.

The monthly amount per person cannot exceed 50% of the minimum wage established by law. After calculating the amount, compare it with the statutory cap applicable to the relevant month. A fixed amount in hryvnias is not a constant cap for every period.

Illustrative calculation for an employee

Assume an employee’s salary is UAH 9,000, normal working hours are 160, and actual hours are 104. The reduction is 56 hours, or 35%. Calculation: 9,000 ÷ 160 × 56 = UAH 3,150. If 50% of the statutory minimum wage for the relevant month is equal to or higher than UAH 3,150, the cap will not reduce this result. If the cap is lower, it applies. This is an illustrative calculation; it does not confirm eligibility for assistance.

Illustrative calculation for a sole proprietor

Assume the average monthly USC assessment base, determined for the relevant period, is UAH 12,000. Normal hours are 160, actual hours are 96, and the reduction is 64 hours, or 40%. The sole proprietor’s income has also, hypothetically, fallen by 40%. Calculation: 12,000 ÷ 160 × 64 = UAH 4,800. The 50% of minimum wage cap also applies to this amount. The USC base is used to calculate the amount of assistance; proof of reduced income is separately required to check eligibility.

How long payments last and what to submit each month

Under clauses 10 and 23 of Procedure No. 702, assistance covers the period of suspension or reduction in activity from the first day working hours were reduced, but no more than 180 calendar days in total over the 36 months from the day activity was suspended or reduced. Reapplying within this period does not restore the limit already used for the same person. Assistance on a repeat application is possible for recipients who have not yet used the permitted duration.

1. Each month, by the 10th, for the previous month, the employer submits information using Appendix 3, and a sole proprietor applying personally uses Appendix 4. The submission method is set out in clause 13 of the Procedure. Information about other state aid is submitted under the rules in clauses 20 and 27-1.
2. The regional employment center transfers the funds within three working days after the corresponding funding reaches its account, based on the submitted information. Funding comes from the Fund’s allocated budget and other permitted sources, so the decision date alone does not determine when money will arrive.
3. The employer pays the assistance to employees no later than three working days after receiving the funds in its account, using a separate payment statement.
4. No later than five calendar days after payment, the employer submits a copy of the statement and proof of transfer to an employee’s account, or the cash payment statement, to the center.

Clause 21 of Procedure No. 702 provides for both cashless transfers and payment using a cash payment statement. If monthly information does not match the registers of contribution payers or insured persons, clause 20 allows the transfer period to be extended to resolve discrepancies, up to five working days from receipt of the center’s notice.

If someone becomes eligible who was not listed in the information supporting an existing decision, the employer or sole proprietor submits an additional application and information about them. The center checks whether they meet the conditions and makes a separate decision. Simply adding a person to the monthly information is not enough.

When an employer or sole proprietor must repay the assistance

Before dismissing an assistance recipient, the employer must check the grounds and date of termination, as these determine whether the funds must be repaid. Part 5 of Article 47 of the Law requires repayment if, within the specified period after payments end, the employee’s contract is terminated by mutual agreement; at the employee’s initiative because the employer has breached labour legislation or the collective agreement or employment contract, or because of workplace bullying or failure to take measures to stop it, as established by a court decision that has entered into legal force; or at the employer’s initiative because of changes in the organization of production and work, including liquidation, reorganization, bankruptcy, repurposing, or workforce reductions. These grounds are specified in clause 1 of Article 36, part 3 of Article 38, and clause 1 of part 1 of Article 40 of the Labour Code of Ukraine. Before ending their own business activity, a sole proprietor must also check whether the period during which cessation requires repayment of their personal assistance has expired.

The Law sets a period of six months from the end of payments, or, if assistance was paid for fewer than 180 calendar days, a period equal to the duration of the payments. Clause 22 of Procedure No. 702 specifies 180 calendar days after payments end, or a shorter period equal to the duration of payments, and requires employment guarantees to be maintained while assistance is being received as well. Six calendar months do not always equal 180 calendar days. Therefore, after assistance has been paid for the full 180 days, the employer or sole proprietor must check the repayment obligation against the six-month period set by Article 47 of the Law. The employer repays the full amount paid for the dismissed person. A sole proprietor who ends business activity during the relevant monitoring period repays the assistance they received personally.

Illustrative example. If payments lasted 60 calendar days, the relevant monitoring period after they end is also 60 calendar days. Dismissing a recipient by mutual agreement during this period creates grounds for repayment of all assistance paid for that person.

Repayment is also required in these situations:

• The employer received funds for a period after the employee’s employment ended.
• A sole proprietor received funds for a period after their state registration ended. If registration ends between submission of the monthly information and the transfer, the relevant funds are not transferred to them.
• The applicant submitted false documents or information that served as the basis for granting assistance.
• The funds were used for a purpose other than their intended purpose or in breach of the prescribed procedure.

Ending employment does not cancel payment for the eligible period before dismissal shown in the submitted monthly information. The same applies to a sole proprietor for the period before registration ends. These payments do not, however, remove a possible repayment obligation resulting from a breach of the employment guarantees.

Under clauses 24–27 of Procedure No. 702, the applicant is responsible for the accuracy of the information and the intended use of the funds. The employment center may review documents, involving the State Labour Service of Ukraine (Derzhpratsi) if needed, and suspend transfers during the review for up to 30 calendar days. Obstructing a review may suspend transfers until it can be carried out, and refusal or obstruction lasting 30 calendar days results in the payments being stopped. The final review of the employer’s use of the funds for their intended purpose is carried out within 180 calendar days after the last payment to employees.

How to use time tracking in Torgsoft to support an application for partial unemployment assistance

The arrival and departure log in Torgsoft can serve as a data source for checking employees’ actual attendance before preparing the required records for assistance. According to the official time tracking instructions, basic registration on a PC and viewing the text log are available to all users. To link entries to a specific employee, the responsible person must create the employee’s profile, link it to a program user, and select a registration method: “By badge” or “By program usage.” With the first method, the employee scans a badge; with the second, registration happens automatically when they log in to the program. Entries can be viewed under “Settings” → “Employee,” on the “Work start / end log” tab, which shows who registered, when, and where.

Before completing the monthly records, we recommend asking the accountant responsible to compare these entries with the approved schedule, timesheet, and employment documents. If the data do not match, the accountant should establish the reason and check the documents to determine the hours of reduced activity correctly. An absence entry alone does not explain its legal basis: the accountant determines periods of paid downtime, unpaid leave, and suspension of employment relations from the relevant documents. If the store wants to use automatic schedules and payroll calculations, the paid “Payroll calculation” option is required; the employee’s schedule must be configured in advance for the timesheet to be filled in automatically and amounts to be calculated correctly. The accountant calculates state assistance separately from the program under Procedure No. 702, using verified hours and the applicable pay figures.

Official rules and application forms

• Law of Ukraine “On Employment of the Population” No. 5067-VI, Article 47 — recipients, insurance conditions, grounds for refusal, and repayment of assistance.
• Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (CMU) Resolution No. 702 and the Procedure for Providing Partial Unemployment Assistance — clauses 5–9 on eligibility and calculations, 10–23 on deadlines, applications, and payments, 24–27-1 on liability, reviews, and the martial law exception; Appendices 1–4 for reporting information.
• Law of Ukraine No. 2136-IX “On the Organization of Labour Relations under Martial Law,” Articles 3, 10, and 13 — notice of changes to working conditions, the obligation to pay wages, and grounds for suspending an employment contract.