
In 2025, owners of passenger cars that the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine recognizes as elite will be required to pay transport tax. This year, there will be not so many changes for drivers compared to previous years, but they are worth considering in order to avoid questions from the tax authorities.
RBC-Ukraine writes about the value of cars that will be taxed and how to find your car among the list.
Transport tax in Ukraine was introduced in 2015. This tax is levied on owners of passenger cars that were manufactured no more than five years ago and have an average market value exceeding a certain threshold. Transport tax is part of the so-called luxury tax, which also includes taxes on real estate whose area exceeds the established limits, according to the Tax Code of Ukraine.
Transport tax is a type of local property tax that provides for mandatory payments to local budgets within the rates determined by the legislation of Ukraine.
Who and how much will pay transport tax in 2025?
The average market value of a passenger car is determined by the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine using the methodology approved by the Cabinet of Ministers in 2016, lawyer Yevhen Bulimenko explained in a commentary to RBC-Ukraine. In particular, this takes into account the price of a new car in Ukraine, taking into account the make, model, engine capacity, and fuel type.
Bulimenko adds that this price is then adjusted using a coefficient that depends on the age of the car: the older the vehicle, the lower the coefficient, and, accordingly, the lower the average market value. Every year, by February 1, the Ministry of Economy publishes a list of brands and models that are subject to taxation.
Transport tax is levied on passenger cars that are not more than five years old and whose value exceeds 375 minimum wages. Considering that the minimum wage as of January 1, 2025 is 8 thousand hryvnias, for 2025 this amount is 3 million hryvnias. The tax rate is 25 thousand hryvnias for each car. At the same time, trucks, cargo-passenger, specialized cars, buses and other vehicles are exempt from the tax.
The tax is paid by individuals and legal entities, as well as non-residents who have registered a car in Ukraine. It is the owners of vehicles who must pay the tax, not renters or persons using the car under a general power of attorney.
Individuals must pay the tax within 60 days of receiving the notice, while legal entities must pay in advance quarterly payments by the 30th of the month following the reporting quarter.
Compared to previous years, only the taxable value of a car has changed, taking into account the increase in the minimum wage. At the same time, the tax rate, despite the devaluation of the national currency, remained at the level of 25 thousand hryvnias. We should add that there are no preferential categories for paying this type of tax.
How to determine if your car is taxable
To check whether your car is subject to transport tax, you need to determine its approximate market value. To do this, there is a special page on the Ministry of Economy website where you can enter the make, model, and year of manufacture of the car to calculate its value.
It is important to remember that the actual purchase price of the car does not matter. The main criterion is the average market value of such a model, which is calculated by the state body - the Ministry of Economy based on data from the State Tax Service. For example, if you are the owner of a 1500 Dodge RAM 2022, you will automatically be shown the average price of this car, which is currently 1 million 245 thousand hryvnias.
Currently, the site is available for car ratings for the period from 2017 to 2024. The rating for 2025 will appear by February 1. In particular, last year, 184 models of Aston Martin, Audi, Bentley, BMW, Cadillac, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lexus, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Rivian and Tesla were included in the list of luxury cars. In 2023, this list included 225 models.
If the vehicle reaches five years of age during the reporting year, the tax is paid for the period from January 1 to the month following the vehicle's five-year age.
If the car was purchased in the middle of the year, the tax is paid proportionally for the months it was owned. For example, if the car turned five years old in May, the tax is paid for five months (January-May): 25 hryvnias: 000 × 12 = 5 hryvnias.
Please note that the year of manufacture of the car is taken into account, not its use. To do this, you can refer to the accompanying documents for the car or, if the date is not indicated, determine the year of manufacture by the VIN code in accordance with the international standard ISO 3779:2009.
If a vehicle that is subject to taxation is stolen, then the transport tax is not paid from the month following the month in which the theft occurred. This is provided that the fact of illegal possession is confirmed by a relevant document from the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations.