Hire Employees in Ukraine

Your own entity is normally a TOV limited liability company. Registration is fast by European standards, but it commits you to Ukrainian corporate reporting and monthly unified reporting on tax and the social contribution.

An Employer of Record inverts the sequence: the Ukrainian entity signs the employment order, notifies the tax authority before the employee starts, withholds income tax and the military levy and pays the unified social contribution — while you direct the day-to-day work.

Martial law modifies the employment position in ways that outlast any single provision. Mobilised employees retain their post, public holidays are suspended, and reservation of critical staff is an active process rather than an assumption.

Ukraine has one employer contribution and no employee social contribution at all. The Unified Social Contribution is 22%, capped at UAH 129,705 a month — fifteen times the minimum wage — and reduced to 8.41% for employees with a disability. The employee side is income tax and military levy only, with nothing going to social insurance.

That structural simplicity is real, but two things complicate hiring here and both are current.

The military levy rose from 1.5% to 5% under Law 4015-IX, taking the employee deduction to 23% when combined with 18% income tax. A large number of calculators and guides still show 1.5%, which understates the employee deduction by three and a half points and produces net-pay figures candidates will dispute.

Martial law changes the employment position materially. Public holidays are suspended, mobilised employees retain their position and cannot be dismissed, and employers can apply to reserve critical staff from mobilisation — a process that needs active management rather than assumption. FOP misclassification, where workers are engaged as sole proprietors on a simplified tax regime, remains the principal contractor risk and is widespread enough that tax authorities scrutinise it.

Break-even rule of thumb: EOR fees begin to exceed the running cost of a small Ukrainian entity somewhere between 15 and 20 employees. Model both before committing — see EOR vs Entity for the full comparison, and plan any later migration so employees keep seniority.

Ukraine has one employer contribution and no employee social contribution at all. The unified social contribution is 22%, capped at UAH 129,705 a month — fifteen times the minimum wage — and reduced to 8.41% for employees with a disability.

The employee side is income tax and the military levy only. Nothing goes from the employee to social insurance, which makes the Ukrainian payslip unusually short.

The military levy rose from 1.5% to 5% under Law 4015-IX, taking the employee deduction to 23% when combined with 18% income tax. A large number of calculators and published guides still show 1.5%, which understates the deduction by three and a half points and produces net figures candidates will dispute at offer stage.

ESV has a floor as well as a ceiling, and the floor is the one that bites. The maximum base is UAH 172,940 a month, capping employer ESV at UAH 38,046.80. But where an employee works a full month at their main place of work, the employer must pay ESV on at least the minimum wage — UAH 1,902.34 — regardless of actual pay. On a salary of UAH 4,000 the employer tops up the contribution on the shortfall. It applies to combinations too, such as salary plus sick pay falling below the minimum, but not to genuine part-time hours or incomplete months. Two provisions are easy to miss: ESV drops to 8.41% for employees with a disability, a substantial saving; and to reserve an employee from mobilisation their salary must reach 2.5 times the minimum wage, UAH 21,617.50 for 2026 — a figure that determines whether a critical hire can lawfully be retained.

Four representative profiles, costed with the 2026 contribution rates above. Salaries are illustrative market midpoints, not GX operating data — use them to see how the on-cost percentage behaves as pay rises, not as a salary benchmark for a specific role. For real market data on your roles, ask for a costing.

Because the main charges are capped, the on-cost percentage falls sharply above the ceiling. Model a senior hire explicitly rather than scaling the junior figure — the error runs in your favour but it distorts the comparison against uncapped markets.

Four representative profiles costed on 2026 statutory rates. Salaries are illustrative market midpoints, not GX operating data.

Payroll runs monthly in hryvnia, but salary must be paid at least twice a month with no more than sixteen days between payments. Monthly-only payroll is a direct breach, and it is the requirement foreign employers most often import their home practice over.

The unified social contribution and withheld taxes are remitted at the time of payment rather than on a separate monthly deadline, so each disbursement carries its own remittance.

Income tax is a flat 18% and the military levy 5%, both withheld at source. There is no progressive scale and no personal allowance for most employees, though a social tax benefit applies at low income levels.

Thresholds and ceilings are uprated periodically, so a figure correct in January may not hold later in the year. Where a row below is flagged, published sources disagreed and the conflict is recorded rather than resolved.

Thresholds move on a local cycle that does not always fall in January, so a figure correct at the start of the year may not hold through it. Where a row below carries a flag, published sources disagreed and the conflict is recorded rather than resolved — there are 1 such rows on this page.

The Labour Code sits alongside a set of martial law measures that modify it substantially and temporarily. Several of those measures — suspended public holidays, greater flexibility on fixed-term contracts, altered notice in defined circumstances — are wartime provisions rather than settled law, and whether each remains in force should be confirmed rather than assumed from a source of uncertain date.

Employment is formalised by an employment order rather than a contract in the western sense, though a written contract is used alongside it. The tax authority must be notified before the employee starts work.

Probation is up to three months, or six for certain positions, and may not be applied to specified categories including employees under eighteen, recent graduates entering their first role and internally transferred staff.

Fixed-term contracts are permitted only where the nature of the work or the employee’s interests justify it. Martial law widened the circumstances in which fixed terms may be used, which is a temporary rather than structural change and should be checked against the position at the time of hire.

Forty hours a week normally, though martial law permits extension to sixty hours for employees in critical infrastructure. Overtime is capped at four hours over two consecutive days and 120 hours a year, and carries a 100% premium.

Overtime is where payroll disputes usually start. Record hours from day one even where the role is salaried and the expectation is that overtime will not arise — reconstructing records after a complaint is far harder than keeping them.

Overtime is where payroll disputes usually begin, and the burden of proving hours worked generally sits with the employer. Record hours from the first day even for salaried roles where overtime is not expected — reconstructing a record after a complaint is considerably harder than keeping one.

Public holidays sit on top of the annual leave entitlement. Where a holiday falls at a weekend, practice varies — some markets move it, some grant a substitute day and some do neither, so check the position before assuming a day in lieu.

The 10 dates below are the statutory position. Employers in many markets grant more by policy or collective agreement, and sector agreements sometimes add local or patronal days that do not appear in a national list.

Ukraine observes 10 paid public holidays in 2026. Dates that fall at a weekend and any substitution rules are set out below; entitlement is separate from annual leave.

Maternity: 126 calendar days — 70 before and 56 after the birth — Paid by the social insurance fund, not the employer. 140 days for complicated births or multiples. Childcare leave: Until the child is 3 — A state allowance; the job is protected throughout. Paternity: 14 calendar days — Paid by the employer, within three months of the birth. Sick leave: From day 1 — The employer pays the first 5 days; the social insurance fund pays thereafter.

Mobilisation: For the duration of military service — The job and average earnings position are protected under wartime provisions.

Ukrainian dismissal grounds are enumerated in the Labour Code, and the employer must cite one. Redundancy requires two months' written notice and payment of at least one month's average earnings as severance, with higher amounts for certain grounds.

Mobilised employees cannot be dismissed and retain their position for the duration of their service. That protection is absolute and applies regardless of how long the absence runs, so workforce planning has to accommodate it rather than work around it.

Certain categories have additional protection, including pregnant employees, those with young children and single parents, and dismissal generally requires trade union consent where a union operates at the workplace.

The final settlement, including severance and accrued leave, must be paid on the day of dismissal. Late payment attracts an obligation to pay average earnings for the whole period of delay, which can exceed the underlying sum.

A foreign national needs a work permit obtained by the employer and then a type D visa and temporary residence. The permit is tied to the employer and the role.

A minimum salary threshold applies, generally expressed as a multiple of the minimum wage and higher for most categories than local market rates for equivalent roles. Certain categories including IT specialists and graduates of top-ranked universities attract reduced thresholds.

Allow one to three months. Martial law has introduced additional exit and movement restrictions for men of mobilisation age, which affects assignment planning independently of the permit itself.

Mobilised employees cannot be dismissed and retain their position for the duration of their service. The protection is absolute and open-ended, so workforce planning has to accommodate it rather than work around it. Reservation of critical staff is available but requires an active application against defined criteria.

FOP misclassification is the second systemic risk. Engaging workers as sole proprietors on the simplified tax regime is widespread, materially cheaper, and scrutinised by the tax authority — reclassification brings back contributions and penalties.

Practical controls: pay twice monthly without exception, configure the military levy at 5%, notify the tax authority before any employee starts, and settle the final payment on the day of dismissal — late settlement obliges the employer to pay average earnings for the entire period of delay.

Work backwards from the start date. For a Ukrainian national through an EOR, one to two weeks is realistic. Foreign nationals need a work permit and temporary residence, adding one to three months.

Confirm before making an offer: that payroll is configured with the 5% military levy rather than the superseded 1.5%; whether the employee is liable to mobilisation and whether reservation is available for the role; and that the arrangement is employment rather than a FOP engagement, since the latter is the main reclassification exposure.

Salary must be paid at least twice a month, not monthly, with no more than sixteen days between payments. Monthly-only payroll is a direct breach and one that foreign employers frequently import from their home practice. USC and income tax are remitted at the time of payment.