The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has included in the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program a new structural benchmark with a deadline of December 31, 2026, which calls for the submission to the Verkhovna Rada of specific rules to combat tax evasion under the simplified tax system.
According to the updated EFF Memorandum of Understanding, the new legislation is intended to address the issues of artificially splitting businesses to maintain preferential limits, manipulative switching between tax regimes, and the use of the simplified system to conceal actual employment relationships and evade taxes on wages and the Unified Social Tax (UST).
At the same time, IMF experts recommended revising the draft of the new Labor Code regarding the definition of employment, noting that the requirement to meet at least five of eight criteria to establish an employment relationship places an excessive burden of proof on regulatory authorities, whereas meeting three criteria is sufficient.
According to the memorandum, the fight against the shadow economy requires additional resources for all tax authorities; therefore, following the appointment of a new head of the State Customs Service (SCS) in April 2026, the government must ensure sufficient funding is available for the re-certification of all customs officials, which is scheduled to begin in mid-2026. In addition, the 2027 budget must provide sufficient funding for the State Customs Service (SCS), the State Tax Service (STS), and the Economic Security Bureau (ESB) to improve their ability to hire and retain qualified personnel.
In the document, the government highlighted the challenges of passing legislation in parliament but noted that it remains committed to eliminating the VAT exemption for sole proprietors, given its importance for combating the shadow economy, mobilizing revenue, EU accession, and attracting donor support. Although the government considers improving tax administration to be extremely important, it sees greater risks in this area than the Fund’s staff does, as administrative reforms could lead to revenue losses if they are not carefully planned and implemented.
As reported, the IMF Executive Board approved the first review of Ukraine’s four-year EFF program early Tuesday morning, allowing for the immediate disbursement of approximately $690 million in the second tranche; however, it noted the failure to meet several performance criteria and cautioned against backsliding on reforms. Taking the first tranche into account, total disbursements under the program—which has a total value of $8.1 billion and was approved in late February of this year—will amount to approximately $2.2 billion.
The updated Memorandum on Ukraine’s Economic and Financial Policies under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), following the results of its first review, also includes seven new structural benchmarks, six of which are fiscal.
de-shadowing, IMF, Individual entrepreneurs, simplified system, TAX
According to Experts.news, Taiwan’s receipt lottery system remains one of the best-known examples of how the government can improve tax compliance not through repression, but by changing the incentives for buyers and sellers.
The idea was introduced in Taiwan in 1951. Instead of trying to inspect every store, café, or kiosk, the authorities turned a sales receipt into a potential lottery ticket. A number appeared on every standardized receipt, and buyers had a personal incentive to request an official receipt even for small purchases.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Finance notes that the rules for the unified invoice system and the temporary measures regarding prize payouts were drafted by Ren Xianqiong on December 12, 1950, and took effect on January 1, 1951. The ministry explains the logic behind the system as follows: the hope of winning a prize encouraged citizens to request receipts, which helped prevent tax evasion and increase budget revenues.
The mechanism was simple: if a seller does not issue a receipt, the sale may go unnoticed by the tax authorities. But if a receipt gives the buyer a chance to win a cash prize, the interests of both parties shift. The seller may be interested in an unreported cash transaction, while the buyer—on the contrary—may want official confirmation of the purchase. In this way, the government effectively turns millions of consumers into voluntary enforcers of cash register compliance.
Today, the system continues to operate. The Taiwan Ministry of Finance’s tax portal publishes winning numbers every two months. Under the current prize structure, the special prize is 10 million New Taiwan dollars, the grand prize is 2 million New Taiwan dollars, and smaller prizes start at 200 New Taiwan dollars.
According to the Experts Club think tank, the key lesson of this model lies not in the lottery itself, but in the proper redistribution of incentives. The government does not increase the number of inspectors indefinitely but creates a situation in which the buyer has a personal stake in ensuring the transaction is properly recorded.
“The Taiwanese example shows that tax compliance often depends not only on the severity of penalties but also on the structure of incentives. If a citizen derives a clear personal benefit from a transparent transaction, the government can achieve a greater effect than through mass audits,” notes Maksim Urakin, founder of the Experts Club analytical center.
Taiwan is not the only example. In Europe, similar tools have been implemented or discussed in Portugal, Greece, Slovakia, Italy, Poland, and Malta.
In Portugal, the fight against VAT evasion was viewed not only as a task for the tax service but also as a public project. Under the electronic invoicing system, companies were required to issue invoices for all transactions and submit the data to tax authorities monthly, while consumers could receive tax credits for invoices in certain service sectors.
In Greece, the tax lottery is primarily linked to electronic payments. Citizens can check the number and serial numbers of lottery tickets generated based on monthly electronic transactions, and the tax authority publishes the results of the drawings.
Slovakia launched the National Receipt Lottery in 2013 amid one of the largest VAT collection gaps in Europe. In just the first two weeks, citizens registered over 7 million receipts. By September 2014, the number of registered receipts had risen to nearly 87 million.
Italy has also introduced a system under which most VAT receipts must include a unique code to participate in a regular state cash prize draw. This step followed similar measures in other European countries.
Another unexpected example is South Korea, where the government incentivized not receipts per se, but electronically tracked payments. In 1999, Korean tax authorities introduced a tax incentive for payments made with credit and debit cards, as well as electronic cash receipts. This policy helped shift the economy toward cashless transactions and sharply increase the share of business revenue flowing into the tax system.
In Brazil, a similar approach was implemented through tax rebate programs and incentives for consumers to provide their information on receipts. The Nota Fiscal Paulista program in the state of São Paulo utilized electronic business reporting and citizen participation to increase the transparency of retail transactions.
These solutions seem unusual because they challenge the traditional philosophy of tax administration. Instead of a “tax authority versus business” model, the government creates a triangle involving the seller, the buyer, and the tax authority. If the buyer is interested in receiving a receipt, it becomes more difficult for the seller to conceal revenue. If the payment is electronic, the tax authority receives more data. If citizens benefit from transparent transactions, oversight becomes cheaper and more widespread.
However, such tools are not a one-size-fits-all solution. They require digital infrastructure, trust in the government, personal data protection, clear rules for businesses, and oversight to ensure the system does not become a mere formality. Slovakia’s experience shows that the initial enthusiasm may wane, and some participants begin to use the system not so much as a form of civic oversight but rather as a regular lottery.
For countries with a high proportion of cash transactions and shadow economy activity, such models remain promising. They make it possible to increase tax collection without directly raising tax rates. It is not the prize draws themselves that are particularly promising, but rather their combination with electronic receipts, online cash registers, digital tax offices, and tax bonuses for citizens.
PJSC “Philip Morris Ukraine” and LLC “Philip Morris Sales and Distribution” paid a total of 31.7 billion UAH in taxes for January–June 2026, which is 10% higher than the figures for the same period last year, according to a company press release.
The bulk of the payments consisted of excise tax—24 billion UAH—and value-added tax (VAT)—7.1 billion UAH.
“In the first half of the year, we managed to increase the amount of taxes paid by 10%. This was made possible by an increase in excise tax rates on tobacco products, despite a decline in market volumes and the consequences of the missile attack on our factory and warehouses,” the press service quoted Serhiy Kalnoochenko, CFO of Philip Morris Ukraine, as saying.
According to Kalnoochenko, since the start of the full-scale invasion, the company has paid more than 212 billion hryvnias to the budget, which is one of the highest figures among businesses in Ukraine.
“This is a real contribution by our business to funding defense, social programs, and economic recovery. However, this amount could have been at least 25–28 billion hryvnias higher if the country had been able to overcome the problem of the illegal tobacco trade. Instead, the market for illegal cigarettes continues to grow every quarter,” Kalnoochenko emphasized.
According to estimates by Kantar Ukraine in April 2026, the volume of the illicit tobacco market has grown again and now stands at 19.8%. With such market volumes, annual losses to the state budget due to unpaid taxes are estimated at a record 33.3 billion hryvnias, the statement noted.
Philip Morris Ukraine PJSC has been operating in the Ukrainian market since 1994 and is one of the largest taxpayers. In 2024, the company opened a new factory in the Lviv region, investing $30 million and creating 250 jobs. Last year, the company invested $5 million in promoting its “ZYN” nicotine pouch brand in Ukraine; this year, it plans to invest another $10 million in developing the nicotine pouch category and launching a new product line under the brand.
In late January 2026, part of the company’s Kharkiv factory was damaged in a nighttime missile strike; operations at the facility have been suspended since February 24, 2022. The company’s preliminary estimate of the damages is $16 million.
On the night of July 8, the company lost its finished goods warehouse in Kyiv due to Russian shelling.
The company also provides humanitarian aid to communities in the Kharkiv, Lviv, and Kyiv regions, and collaborates with the rehabilitation funds Superhumans, U+System, and UNBROKEN. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, projects totaling 431 million hryvnias have been implemented.
State-owned PrivatBank has launched a service in the “Privat24” app for filing single-tax payer returns for individual entrepreneurs (FOP) in the first through third groups, with the option to pay taxes afterward, the financial institution reported.
“Integrating electronic reporting into the mobile app will reduce the administrative burden on small businesses and minimize the risk of errors when filling out documents,” said Yevhen Zaigraev, a member of PrivatBank’s Management Board responsible for corporate business and small and medium-sized enterprises.
“Privat24” generates the tax return based on transactions in the entrepreneur’s bank accounts and calculates the income received. The sole proprietor must verify the data and sign the document using SmartID, after which it will be sent to the State Tax Service.
Once the tax service accepts the tax return, the entrepreneur can pay taxes within the app. The service is available in the “Tax Returns” section, where users can also view previously filed returns.
According to the bank, the number of active Privat24 users in the first quarter of 2026 increased by 2% compared to the same period last year—to 13.7 million—while the number of active business clients rose by 4%, to 952,000.
PrivatBank is Ukraine’s largest bank. According to the National Bank, the financial institution’s total assets as of June 1, 2026, amounted to 965.11 billion UAH (22.7% of the total).
U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that he is prepared to impose 100% tariffs on any country that imposes a digital services tax on American companies.
“Many European countries are discussing the immediate implementation of a digital services tax on American companies. Some of these countries are close to putting their words into action,” the U.S. leader wrote on the social media platform Truth Social.
“Please let this statement serve to make it clear that any country that imposes such a tax will immediately face 100% tariffs on any goods exported to the U.S.,” he emphasized.
The overall level of illicit tobacco trade in Ukraine rose to 19.8% in April 2026 from 17.6% at the beginning of the year, according to the results of the second wave of the project “Monitoring Illicit Tobacco Trade in Ukraine,” conducted by Kantar Ukraine on behalf of leading manufacturers in the industry.
According to data published on its website, nearly one in five packs of cigarettes on the Ukrainian market is illegal. Analysts estimate that, given this level of the black market, annual losses to the state budget due to unpaid taxes amount to 33.3 billion UAH.
“The main factor driving this growth was an increase in the volume of counterfeit products, particularly cigarettes with forged excise stamps. At the same time, the volume of products labeled ‘Duty Free’ or intended for export but illegally sold in Ukraine has remained stable since the beginning of the year, although it exceeds the figures for 2025,” the study notes.
According to the study’s findings, 38% of the total volume of counterfeit products consists of cigarettes from local manufacturers with counterfeit excise stamps. The main producer of such products, based on the labeling on the packaging, remains Marshall Finest Tobacco (United Tobacco)/VK Tobacco FZE.
In the segment of products labeled “Duty Free” or intended for export but illegally sold in Ukraine, 55% of cigarettes are produced by the Vynnykivska Tobacco Factory, and another 44% by Marshall Finest Tobacco.
Geographically, 68% of the total volume of illegal tobacco products is concentrated in seven regions of Ukraine: Dnipropetrovsk (18%), Odesa (11%), Kharkiv (10%), Kirovohrad (8%), Lviv (8%), Khmelnytskyi (7%) regions, and Kyiv and the Kyiv region (6%).
“The tobacco shadow has grown again(((. For the attention of the updated BEB,” commented Danylo Getmantsev, head of the Committee on Finance, Tax, and Customs Policy, on these results.
According to the study, despite a certain decline in sales of illegal cigarettes through kiosks, it is precisely kiosks and stores that remain the main distribution channels through which about two-thirds of illegal tobacco products are sold.
Kantar Ukraine conducts the “Monitoring of Illegal Trade in Tobacco Products in Ukraine” project on an ongoing basis. The study is based on the collection and analysis of empty cigarette packs, as well as interviews with smokers, to determine the channels of supply and the origin of illegal goods on the domestic market.
