Commuting compensation in Ukraine 2026: additional benefit and taxes

Yes: if an employer in Ukraine reimburses an employee for travel from home to work or back, the amount is an additional benefit and is taxable. In 2026, 18% personal income tax (PIT) and 5% military levy are withheld from it. Taxi receipts or public transport tickets do not change this, because ordinary travel to the place of work is not treated as performance of employment duties.

The State Tax Service (STS) published this clarification on 20 October 2026. For NGOs and foundations the topic is very practical: staff travel is sometimes put into a project budget as a separate line and then paid as “reimbursement of expenses”, without tax. Below we explain how the tax authority views such compensation, how it differs from travel on a business trip and what the auditor will see in the payroll records. We covered general payroll tax rates in our article payroll taxes 2026.

What has changed

The tax authority did not introduce a new rule; it explained how to apply the existing one. In its publication of 20.10.2026 (tax.gov.ua) the STS reached the following conclusions.

• The Tax Code includes additional benefits received from the employer in the employee’s taxable income.
• Travel from home to the place of work and back is not performance of employment duties. The employer is not obliged to pay for it but may do so at its own discretion.
• If the employer reimburses such travel, the amount is the employee’s additional benefit.
• It is the employee’s income even when the expenses are supported by receipts.
• The rule is the same for taxis and for ordinary public transport.

The STS example: the employer accrued UAH 1,000 of travel compensation to an employee. UAH 180 of PIT and UAH 50 of military levy are withheld, and the employee receives UAH 770.

Who is affected

• any employer that refunds employees for taxis, minibuses, metro or other travel between home and work;
• NGOs and charitable foundations whose project budget includes staff travel as a separate line;
• companies that pay for a taxi after a late shift: the STS clarification contains no separate exception for this case;
• accountants and HR staff who process such payments through expense reports rather than as accrued income.

What to do and by when

1. Check how these payments are processed now. If commuting compensation is booked through an expense report without tax withholding, this contradicts the STS position.
2. Record the decision to compensate in a document. An order or policy on compensation: who, how much, on the basis of which documents. The employer does this at its own discretion; there is no obligation.
3. Treat the compensation as employee income. The employer, as tax agent, calculates, withholds and pays 18% PIT and 5% military levy. The employee does not need to pay anything personally.
4. Do not confuse it with a business trip. Travel to the place of a business trip and back, and travel at that place, is assessed under different rules: see our article which business trip expenses are not taxed.
5. For a grant project, check the budget. If staff travel is a budget line, check the grant agreement to see whether the donor may fund the taxes on this amount and how such compensation should be shown in the financial report.

A word on documents. If you decide to pay compensation, the order or policy should set out not only the amount but also the procedure: which documents the employee submits, who checks the amounts and in which month the compensation is accrued together with salary. The accountant then has a clear basis for accruing income, and the auditor sees the full chain from the employer’s decision to the payment of taxes to the budget.

Common mistakes and risks

• “There is a receipt, so it is a reimbursement.” The STS states directly that commuting compensation is income even when receipts exist.
• “Public transport is cheap, no tax is needed.” The rule is the same for taxis and public transport; the amount does not matter.
• Compensation through an expense report. A payment booked as an advance without accruing income may be reclassified as an additional benefit during a tax audit, and the tax withholding issue will then have to be resolved retroactively.
• Mixing it up with a business trip. A trip from home to work does not become business travel because the employee went to a meeting the same day. A business trip requires an order and documents confirming the link between the trip and the employer’s activity.
• A project budget without taxes. If the compensation was budgeted as net amounts, the withheld taxes either reduce the payment to the employee or need a separate source.

The risk for the organisation: under-withheld PIT and military levy, plus questions from the auditor and the donor as to why the “travel” line was paid without tax. The auditor usually selects several such payments and checks the order, the tax calculation and the payments to the budget.

FAQ

How we help

We run payroll and HR records for companies and NGOs: we check which payments to employees are their income, withhold taxes correctly and prepare documents for project audits. See payroll outsourcing, HR records and accounting outsourcing. We also cover staff taxes in our free webinars for NGOs. You can reach us via contacts.

Prepared by the MK Audit team