Liability for Late Tax Payments: Fines and Penalties

Liability for late tax payments in 2026

If a business is late in paying an agreed tax liability, the basic rule is as follows: up to 30 calendar days of delay — a fine of 5% of the repaid amount of tax debt, over 30 days — 10%. If the violation is qualified as intentional, the fine increases to 25%, and for a repeated violation within 1095 days or for a delay of more than 90 calendar days — up to 50%. Separately, a penalty may be accrued. For self-declared amounts, it generally begins to accrue from the 91st calendar day of delay. (Legislation of Ukraine)

Administrative liability applies not to the enterprise, but to the officials — for failure to submit or untimely submission of payment orders for tax payment. Criminal liability occurs not for any payment delay, but for intentional tax evasion that led to the actual non-receipt of funds by the budget in significant, large, or especially large amounts. During martial law, a special exemption from financial liability applies, but only to those taxpayers who genuinely had no opportunity to fulfill their tax obligation and confirmed it according to the special procedure of the Ministry of Finance.

When a delay is already a violation

If you specified the tax amount yourself in the declaration, it must be paid within 10 calendar days after the last day of the deadline for submitting the declaration, unless the Tax Code of Ukraine establishes otherwise. If the amount of the monetary obligation was determined by the controlling body in a tax notice-decision, a separate period from paragraph 57.3 of the TCU applies; if the taxpayer begins the appeal procedure, they pay the agreed amount after the completion of such agreement within the period specified by the Code. (Legislation of Ukraine)

For the purposes of the fine, it is important that we are talking specifically about the agreed amount of the monetary obligation. That is, the amount that is already payable: either the one that the taxpayer declared themselves, or the one that became mandatory after receiving the tax notice-decision and the completion/non-initiation of an appeal. (Legislation of Ukraine)

Fine for non-payment of taxes and late payment of taxes

According to Article 124 of the TCU, the liability is as follows:

The fine under Article 124 is calculated from the repaid amount of tax debt. This means that with a partial payment, the sanction is calculated not from the entire initial amount, but from that part of the debt which was repaid with a delay. That is why even with a delay it is more profitable to pay at least part of the debt as soon as possible, rather than waiting for full repayment. (Legislation of Ukraine)

Fine for late payment of corporate income tax, VAT, and other self-declared taxes

For corporate income tax, VAT, land tax, real estate tax, and other taxes where the taxpayer self-declared the amount to be paid, Article 124 of the TCU is usually applied for delay: 5% or 10% depending on the length of the delay, and in some cases — 25% or 50% if the violation is qualified as intentional. A penalty is also accrued according to the rules of Article 129 of the TCU. (Legislation of Ukraine)

Fine for late payment of personal income tax and other taxes by a tax agent

A separate Article 125-1 of the TCU applies to tax agents. It is applied when the tax was not accrued, withheld, or transferred to the budget prior to or during the payment of income to another person. The sanctions are as follows:

It is usually under these rules that violations involving the payment of personal income tax and military tax by the employer as a tax agent are evaluated, when it comes to the tax that had to be withheld from the income of an employee or other recipient of the payment and transferred to the budget. Besides the fine under Article 125-1, special penalty accrual rules also apply in such cases. (Legislation of Ukraine)

Penalty for late payment of taxes

According to Article 129 of the TCU, the penalty on a self-determined tax liability is accrued for each calendar day of delay, starting from the 91st calendar day after the deadline for payment, including the day of repayment. The rate is 100% per annum of the NBU discount rate effective on each such day. However, if it concerns an understatement detected by the controlling body, or individual violations by a tax agent, the penalty is accrued according to other rules, in particular at a rate of 120% per annum of the NBU discount rate in cases explicitly provided by Article 129. (Legislation of Ukraine)

The accrual of the penalty stops on the day the funds are credited to the corresponding budget account or on another day the tax debt is repaid. If the additionally accrued tax liability is canceled in administrative or judicial proceedings, the penalty on such an amount is also canceled. (Legislation of Ukraine)

Fine for late payment of single tax

For individual entrepreneurs — payers of the single tax of the first and second groups, there is a special norm: non-payment, incomplete payment, or late payment of advance single tax contributions entails a fine in the amount of 50% of the single tax rate chosen by the payer. This is a separate rule of paragraph 122.1 of the TCU, not the general sanction of Article 124. (Legislation of Ukraine)

Special cases

For the special case of excise tax payment, directly provided for by the second paragraph of sub-paragraph 222.1.2 of the TCU, the Code establishes a special fine of 10% of the amount of such excise tax. This is a narrow special norm that does not replace the general rules for other taxes. (Legislation of Ukraine)

If the payment delay occurred not due to the payer's fault, but due to the fault of the bank, the Treasury, or another payment service provider, the fine for violating the crediting deadline is paid by such entity. For businesses, this means that payment documents, bank receipts, statements, and confirmations of the time the payment instruction was submitted must be kept without fail. (Legislation of Ukraine)

Martial law: when financial liability can be avoided

Sub-paragraph 69.1 of sub-section 10 of section XX of the TCU provides for exemption from tax liability for a taxpayer who did not have the opportunity to timely fulfill the tax obligation regarding tax payment, reporting, registration of invoices, and other actions defined by the Code. But this exemption is not automatic: the obligations must be fulfilled within the time limits provided by this norm, and the very fact of impossibility must be confirmed in a special order. (Legislation of Ukraine)

The procedure for confirming such impossibility is approved by the Order of the Ministry of Finance No. 225. For legal entities and private entrepreneurs, it provides for separate grounds and lists of supporting documents. Therefore, if the delay is associated with hostilities, occupation, destruction of property, loss of access to documents, banks, or personnel, one should not just refer to the war, but prepare an application and documents precisely according to this Procedure.

Administrative liability for non-payment of taxes

Administrative liability under Article 163-2 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses applies to officials of the enterprise for non-submission or late submission of payment orders for the transfer of due taxes and fees. The sanction for the first violation is from 5 to 10 tax-free minimum incomes of citizens, that is, from UAH 85 to 170; for a repeated violation within a year — from 10 to 15 tax-free minimum incomes, that is, from UAH 170 to 255.

Such cases are considered by district, district in city, city, and city-district courts. For cases within the court's jurisdiction, the general period for imposing an administrative penalty is no later than three months from the date the offense was committed, and for continuing offenses — no later than three months from the date of their discovery.

Criminal liability

Criminal liability occurs under Article 212 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine only for intentional evasion of taxes, fees, or other mandatory payments, if this led to the actual non-receipt of funds by budgets or state trust funds in significant, large, or especially large amounts. The Code defines a significant amount as an amount that exceeds the tax-free minimum income of citizens by 3,000 or more times, large — by 5,000 or more times, especially large — by 7,000 or more times.

That is, any payment delay in itself does not yet mean a criminal risk. For criminal qualification, intentional evasion is required along with the presence of a threshold amount of non-receipt of funds, defined by Article 212 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

For what period the tax authority can apply a fine

The general limitation period for the independent determination of monetary obligations by the controlling body is 1095 days, unless the TCU establishes an exception. This exact period is important both for assessing tax risks for past periods and for understanding when the tax authority can still additionally charge obligations and penalties. (Legislation of Ukraine)

What an entrepreneur should do immediately after a delay

First of all, you need to check which specific norm applies: the general Article 124, the special Article 125-1 for a tax agent, or a separate sanction for the single tax of the first and second groups. Next — pay off at least part of the debt as soon as possible, keep all payment documents, check if there are grounds for exemption under martial law rules, and if the tax was additionally accrued by the tax office — do not miss the deadline for appealing the tax notice-decision. (Legislation of Ukraine)

Official sources

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