To the President of Ukraine

Volodymyr Zelensky

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine

 

Resolution of the United Ukrainian Small and Medium-Sized Business

 

We, representatives of 17 coalitions of business associations (BA), comprising more than 500 SME business associations that have joined together in the BA Alliance, recognizing our shared responsibility for the restoration, preservation, and sustainable development of Ukraine’s economy, appeal to the President of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine with the following:

We believe that in order to overcome the key threats currently facing Ukraine, it is necessary to first implement the following tasks, which have been identified by leading business associations and economic analytical centers as key priorities for 2026:

1. Stimulate economic recovery by preserving entrepreneurship and restoring human capital:

1. introduce transparent and effective mechanisms for compensating businesses for war-related losses, adapting approaches that have been tested in compensating citizens for losses;
2. implement and finance a state program of partial subsidization of voluntary insurance of military risks for businesses and their employees, as well as the life, health, and property of citizens; create and implement a mechanism for reinsurance of war risks by Ukrainian insurers in the Export Credit Agency and promote the reinsurance of these risks in the domestic market and with non-resident reinsurers;
3. introduce investment and business visas, simplify migration legislation;
4. economically encourage and stimulate entrepreneurs to employ socially vulnerable categories of the population;
5. promote women’s entrepreneurship, eliminate distortions in legislation regarding the working conditions of men and women;
6. develop conditions for preserving and stimulating economic and investment activity in the areas most affected by the war;
7. introduce a program to encourage applicants abroad to enroll in Ukrainian universities in order to preserve the potential for the return of human capital to Ukraine;
8. provide programs to encourage and support the employment of veterans (UBD) for employers;
9. Introduce local tax breaks in frontline communities during martial law and for 2-3 years after it ends (setting zero rates for land tax and property tax), and introduce subsidies to local communities to compensate for these taxes.
10. Grants for the restoration and preservation of jobs for businesses in frontline territories (including for the maintenance of personnel during the restoration period). Allow expenses for the relocation of labor and compensation for housing costs in the new location. Allow expenses for the payment of salaries during the interruption of production for the restoration of the enterprise after damage by enemy weapons and means of destruction;
11. Increase the maximum amount of the “Own Business” grant for enterprises in frontline territories by 3 times to UAH 1.5 million, which expands the possibilities for the restoration of affected micro and small enterprises (UAH 8-16 million is too much for them, and UAH 500,000 may not be enough for restoration).
12. allow early termination of the agreement (after all terms of the agreement have been fulfilled) and submission of a new application immediately after the agreement expires;
13. introduce compensation for destroyed and/or damaged property of enterprises;
14. stimulate the creation of a cashless economy for maximum transparency of competition;
15. provide for preferential terms for the lease of municipal property and financing of business relocation in local programs to support relocated businesses;
16. introduce at the legislative level the concept of relocation for displaced legal entities, individual entrepreneurs, and public organizations;
17. Extend the possibility of booking staff to sole proprietors.

2. Ensure transparency and efficiency of regulatory and law enforcement agencies:

1. restore transparent competitions and public oversight of open competitions for all government positions, adopt draft law No. 13478-1;
2. ensure a risk-based approach to inspections of business entities.

3. Restart the State Tax Service (STS), the Economic Security Bureau (ESB), the State Customs Service (SCS), the National Police, and the Financial Monitoring Service:

1. select new leadership for the SCS, SBS, National Police, and Financial Monitoring Service through transparent competitions with sufficient time for nominations, with commissions and the decisive vote of international experts;
2. provide the necessary funding for the BEB for 2026 to ensure decent wages for BEB specialists and the opening of regional offices in all regions of Ukraine;
3. re-certify all employees of these bodies by commissions with the decisive vote of international experts, establish decent wages in order to reduce corruption risks;
4. create quality performance indicators to monitor the activities and effectiveness of the BEB, DPS, and DMS (PZU No. 12359 and No. 12360).

4. Continue and complete judicial reform, ensure the rule of law:

1. complete the reform of the administrative justice system;
2. analyze and amend legislation to ensure equal protection of the rights of economic entities in administrative proceedings, in particular regarding the legality of individual acts of state bodies and the possibility of suspending the effect of a contested individual act pending consideration of the case on its merits;
3. transition to digital justice;
4. ensure judicial protection of the rights of investors and owners, taking into account the impact of hostilities on civil legal relations.

5. Ensure inclusive dialogue between the government, business, and civil society:

1. include mandatory consultations with representatives of the business community and business associations in the process of adopting changes in the regulatory and tax spheres;
2. mandatorily conduct a real analysis and calculation of the expected costs and benefits for businesses, citizens, and the state when registering draft laws in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine;
3. introduce mechanisms for effective control over the implementation of approved state strategies;
4. Ensure that changes are made to state strategies in areas that significantly worsen the conditions for doing business in Ukraine, in particular for small businesses (National Revenue Strategy).
5. Conduct mandatory public consultations before introducing legislative changes.

6. Maintain the current simplified taxation system and promote the lawful activities of micro and small businesses:

1. maintain the current simplified taxation system as one of the few advantages of our country;
2. move from broad taxation of groups 2 and 3 of the Single Tax System to taxation of only certain high-risk groups of taxpayers who are at significant risk of exceeding the limits for single tax payers;
3. to minimize “gray schemes,” ensure equal competition, and protect consumer rights, introduce mechanisms to encourage buyers to obtain fiscal receipts for high-priced goods;
4. legislatively introduce clear criteria for labor relations to separate freelancing from labor relations (PZU No. 13507);
5. ensure accountability for service providers and sellers of goods who work without formal documentation;
6. ensure access to the booking system for all enterprises for positions that are mandatory in enterprises according to the requirements of the law, as well as for micro-businesses operating as individual entrepreneurs, according to defined transparent criteria.

7. Reform the tax system and customs legislation:

1. modify the risk assessment criteria monitoring system: set deadlines for blocking tax invoices, ensure enforcement of court decisions on blocking;
2. reduce the overall tax burden on the wage fund;
3. introduce a mechanism for percentage deductions from direct taxes to support non-profit organizations;
4. raise the threshold for mandatory VAT registration by indexing it to the inflation rate, with subsequent indexation;
5. modify the tax on real estate and land plots of enterprises in accordance with the European model (taxation based on the market or quasi-market value of the asset);
6. gradually reduce government spending to 35% of GDP after the end of martial law;
7. create a level playing field for foreign and domestic manufacturers and retailers by introducing VAT on goods imported in parcels, transitioning to the European One Stop Shop system;
8. ensure automatic exchange of information with countries that are Ukraine’s largest trading partners;
9. enable recipients of parcels to pay customs duties and VAT online, without the involvement of customs brokers and additional contacts with the customs service.

8. Demonopolization and privatization:

1. regulate acquiring rates – harmonize national legislation with EU legislation (PZU No. 5734);
2. introduce the possibility of creating state electronic services by private entities;
3. minimise the number of municipal and state-owned enterprises through privatisation and corporatisation;
4. define the legal status and guarantees of financial independence of employees of the Antimonopoly Committee and the National Commission for State Regulation in Energy and Utilities;
5. transparently and effectively privatize all non-strategic enterprises in 2025-2026, and strategic state-owned enterprises after the end of martial law, using the mechanism of public shareholding to simultaneously stimulate the development of the stock market.

9. Promote debureaucratization, deregulation, and stimulate fair domestic and foreign competition:

1. fully implement the SME Development Strategy 2027 and the National Economic Strategy 2030;
2. Implement updated legislation on public-private partnerships (Law No. 4510-IX).
3. Introduce modern labor law based on freedom of employment contracts – extend Law 2434-IX on simplified procedures for SMEs not only during wartime, but on a permanent basis.
4. introduce new principles of interaction between the state and business – abolish ineffective and burdensome state control regulations, strengthen public control in this area;
5. introduce the “one in – two out” regulatory rule: the introduction of any new regulation by the state must be accompanied by the abolition of at least two existing regulations of comparable “value”;
6. adopt special legislation on self-regulatory organizations and transfer some of the functions of state bodies to them;
7. simplify document management for small and medium-sized businesses, make certificates of work/services performed optional, and transition to an invoice model;
8. Ensure the protection of the rights of participants in criminal proceedings and establish regulatory safeguards against pressure on businesses from law enforcement agencies (PZU No. 12439).

 

Business representatives call on the President of Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, and members of parliament from all political parties to discuss and support the proposals developed by think tanks and business associations based on research findings, and to agree on and adopt the necessary regulatory acts as soon as possible.

 

Sincerely,

Alliance of Business Organizations

 

Signatories:

Coalition of Business Communities for the Modernization of Ukraine

National SME Platform

Women’s Business Support Platform

Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Ukrainian Cluster Alliance

Ukrainian Business Council

Innovative Projects Support Platform

Sumy Coalition of Business Associations

Technological Sustainability Platform

Kharkiv Coalition of Industry and Business Communities “KOHA”

Network of Business Support Organizations for Ukraine’s European Integration

InterUAction Business Association Interaction Platform

Tech Synergy Business Association Interaction Platform

Ukrainian Export Alliance

Ukrainian Maritime Cluster

Coalition of Mediators for the Development of the Mediation Services Market in Ukraine

Open Business Platform “POSTUP BOIKIVSHCHYNY”

Coalition for the Promotion of Entrepreneurship and Strengthening of the Economy of Territorial Communities