How to Check a Hryvnia Banknote Before Payment and Submit a Suspect Note for Examination

Before accepting payment, check several security features of the hryvnia banknote. If doubts about its authenticity or payment validity remain, do not accept it for the goods. Ask the customer to pay with other banknotes or coins and to take the suspect banknote to a bank. A cashier’s doubt is not a final finding that a banknote is counterfeit.

The owner of a suspect banknote may voluntarily submit it through a bank for free examination by the NBU. An application is required; the bank prepares documents confirming acceptance. After the examination, the bank fully reimburses the value of banknotes found to be fit for payment. The NBU does not reimburse counterfeit banknotes or banknotes unfit for payment.

How to check a banknote before accepting payment

Prepare NBU descriptions by denomination and banknote design for cashiers. The NBU publishes electronic posters and booklets showing security features. Legal entities may use these materials to produce their own posters and booklets.

Introduce the following checking sequence in your store:

1. Match the denomination and design of the banknote to the relevant NBU description.
2. Check several security features: by touch, against the light and by tilting the banknote. If needed, use a magnifying glass to inspect microtext.
3. Assess wear and damage separately. Do not conclude that a banknote is counterfeit solely because its paper is worn.
4. If doubts remain, do not accept the banknote. Explain to the customer which feature you could not match to the description and ask them to pay with other cash.

Turn this sequence into a store work instruction. The NBU recommends checking several security features. Compare specific features with the description for the exact design you are checking.

The raised features on the 1000-hryvnia banknote of the 2019 design are located only on the front. Use the table above for the specified designs. For other banknotes, consult the relevant NBU description.

Which banknotes must be accepted

Payment validity means that a genuine banknote meets the NBU criteria for use in payments. Payment-valid banknotes may be fit or unfit for circulation. Therefore, wear alone does not mean that a banknote has lost its payment validity.

Individuals and legal entities must accept fit-for-circulation banknotes without restriction. Under Clause 21 of Regulation No. 148, businesses, including individual entrepreneurs, must accept without restriction banknotes of all denominations issued into circulation by the NBU, including worn banknotes, when accepting cash payments from consumers, provided the banknotes are valid for payment and raise no doubts about authenticity or payment validity. For legal entities, Clause 10 of Rules No. 134 also requires acceptance of worn banknotes with the features listed in subparagraphs 1–4 of Clause 8:

• Abrasion, partial loss of ink, fraying of the paper and loss of its stiffness.
• Contrasting stains, spots, inscriptions, or stamp or seal impressions, each with an area of up to and including 400 mm², including those visible under ultraviolet light. Exceptions are cancellation marks reading “for exchange” or “unfit for payment”; colouring with a special solution as a result of unauthorized interference with a valuables storage device; or characteristic contour colouring that may indicate the device has been triggered.
• Tears or cuts each longer than 5 mm. They must be joined with transparent adhesive polymer tape or paper tape applied with glue so that adjacent banknotes do not stick together.
• Holes, punctures, or missing edges or corners, each with an area greater than 10 mm².

This obligation for legal entities applies specifically to subparagraphs 1–4, not to every type of damage listed in Clause 8. Legal entities may not accept for payment banknotes that are unfit for payment, invalid, or withdrawn from circulation and have ceased to be legal tender.

Also check the status of the banknote design. The 20-, 50-, 100-, 200- and 500-hryvnia banknotes of the 2003–2007 designs are being gradually withdrawn but remain legal tender. The 1-, 2-, 5- and 10-hryvnia banknotes of the 2003–2007 designs ceased to be legal tender on 2 March 2026. Banknotes of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 hryvnias of designs issued before 2003 ceased to be legal tender on 1 October 2020.

What to tell a customer if doubts remain

A banknote is considered suspect if its authenticity or payment validity is in doubt, including because of possible counterfeiting features, until it has been examined and the NBU has drawn up a report. Call it suspect and describe the specific discrepancy.

For example: “I could not match a security feature to the description of this banknote. Please pay with other banknotes or coins. You can submit this banknote to a bank for examination.”

According to the NBU, when a cashier refuses to accept suspect cash, the corresponding cash transaction does not take place. Rules No. 134 define the withdrawal of suspect banknotes for examination as a banking operation. The bank follows the withdrawal and documentation procedure described below.

Illustrative example of a check before a sale

Example conditions: the goods cost 800 hryvnias. The customer presents a 1000-hryvnia banknote of the 2019 design. The cashier checks the light watermark feature against the light and the movement of the background image in the windowed thread while tilting the banknote. After comparing it with the description, doubts remain.

The cashier does not accept this banknote. The customer replaces it with two payment-valid 500-hryvnia banknotes that raise no doubts. The amount received is 1000 hryvnias, and the change is 200 hryvnias: 1000 − 800 = 200. These amounts illustrate the cashier’s action; if the owner submits the first banknote through a bank for NBU examination, its authenticity will be established during that examination.

How the owner can submit a suspect banknote through a bank

1. Take the banknote to a bank to obtain an NBU conclusion. Under Clause 160 of Instruction No. 103, a bank accepts suspect banknotes for examination from individuals and legal entities. Special procedures apply to the damage described in subparagraphs 15 and 16 of Clause 8 of Rules No. 134: ordinary banks may accept these banknotes, while authorized banks entrusted with holding NBU cash reserves must accept them under the application in Annex 2 to Rules No. 134. These include severely damaged banknotes whose area is or may become less than 55%, inseparable groups of damaged banknotes, and banknotes with hazardous chemical, radioactive or toxic contamination. Contaminated banknotes require a document confirming disinfection or decontamination issued by an institution or person legally authorized to perform it. These banknotes may also be presented directly to the NBU using the application in Annex 2 to Rules No. 134, provided their total value is below the statutory threshold for a threshold financial transaction and the applicable legal requirements are met. Banknotes with the special or characteristic contour colouring described in subparagraph 17 of Clause 8 are withdrawn by the bank and transferred to law enforcement for investigation and examination under Clause 17.
2. For submission under the general procedure in Clause 160, complete the application in Annex 25 to Instruction No. 103. For damage covered by subparagraphs 15 and 16 of Clause 8 of Rules No. 134, use the special application in Annex 2 to those Rules. For banknotes with damage covered by subparagraphs 15 and 16 of Clause 8, the application must state that the amount and number of accepted banknotes have been determined using a notional valuation of one hryvnia. The bank does not inspect these banknotes; it packages them to preserve their integrity as fully as possible and sends them to the NBU with the application, certificate and inventory. The bank prepares three copies of the certificate recording withdrawal or acceptance for examination.
3. Receive documents confirming acceptance. The bank provides one copy of the certificate and one copy of the off-balance-sheet cash receipt voucher, certified with the bank’s seal or stamp. At your request, the bank may omit issuing your copy of the voucher.
4. Keep the documents and confirm how you will be notified of the result. Before contacting the bank, ask which documents you or your representative need. The bank carries out identification and verification in the cases and manner set out by law.

If a bank itself detects a suspect hryvnia banknote while accepting, processing or dispensing cash, it must withdraw it and prepare a certificate in three copies under Clause 158. The bank is prohibited from returning or temporarily handing over detected suspect currency to a customer.

Examination timelines and receiving the result

These are separate time limits with different starting events. To track your case, use the date of acceptance by the bank and ask which stage the banknote has reached. If you wish, the bank must let you review the examination report and acknowledge with your signature that you have read it.

If the banknote is found to be payment-valid, the bank must reimburse its full value. A finding that it is genuine does not by itself mean that it is payment-valid. The NBU does not reimburse counterfeit banknotes or banknotes unfit for payment. However, under Clause 16 of Rules No. 134, the NBU may exceptionally exchange banknotes with no signs of counterfeiting that have lost their payment validity because of fire, catastrophe, another accident, natural disaster or household damage and were accepted under Clauses 14 and 15 of those Rules. This exchange is not guaranteed.

You may request the return of a genuine banknote found unfit for payment within six months from the date it was accepted for examination. Exceptions apply to banknotes coloured with a special solution as a result of unauthorized interference, deliberately damaged to commit a criminal offence, or damaged during an emergency regime. After the time limit expires, if no request has been made, the NBU disposes of banknotes unfit for payment.

When a bank involves law enforcement

If a bank detects two or more banknotes with the same counterfeiting features from one individual, it immediately notifies the local law enforcement unit. The bank transfers the banknotes to an authorized representative under a report. If the bank has personal information about the customer, it notifies them of the transfer within three working days.

If the representative does not arrive, no later than the next working day after notification the bank documents the banknotes as suspect for examination. It notifies the law enforcement unit in writing and, if it has personal information, the customer, providing a copy of the certificate.

When an examination establishes that a banknote is counterfeit, the NBU notifies the law enforcement unit for the place where the banknote was withdrawn or accepted. At the request of the relevant unit, the NBU transfers the counterfeit banknote to an authorized officer under a report. The rule allowing banknotes unfit for payment to be returned within six months does not grant the right to receive an established counterfeit banknote back.

A bank does not submit invalid banknotes or items with a similar design and advertising or souvenir inscriptions for examination if they do not imitate security features.

Official sources

• Regulation on cash operations in Ukraine’s national currency, NBU Resolution No. 148 of 29.12.2017 — Clause 21.
• Rules for determining payment features and exchanging banknotes, change and circulation coins of Ukraine’s national currency, NBU Resolution No. 134 of 03.12.2018 — clauses 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 22, and Annex 2.
• Instruction on organizing cash operations by banks and conducting payment transactions by payment service providers in Ukraine, NBU Resolution No. 103 of 25.09.2018 — clauses 158–161, 163, 167–169, annexes 23 and 25.
• NBU: Questions and answers, “Banknotes and coins” section — cashier refusal to accept suspect cash and suggestion to pay with other banknotes or coins.
• NBU: Banknotes in circulation and withdrawn from circulation.
• NBU: Security features of the 500-hryvnia banknote of the 2015 design.
• NBU: Security features of the 1000-hryvnia banknote of the 2019 design.
• NBU: “Financial Wisdom”, issue 4, page 5 — checking several security features and the free examination of a suspect banknote.