Main points
- Entrepreneurs selling excisable goods face the risk of having their licenses revoked for failure to comply with minimum wage requirements, which has led to the revocation of over 2.9 thousand licenses.
- In addition to problems with salaries, entrepreneurs are being fined for selling without excise stamps and other violations, which has already resulted in fines totaling almost 17 million hryvnias.
Tax authorities may revoke 3,000 licenses due to salaries / Shutterstock
Businesses selling alcohol, cigarettes, and vaping liquids have been clamped down on. Thousands of licenses are at risk – and many are already losing them – due to non-compliance with minimum wage requirements.
Who can have licenses to sell excisable goods revoked?
Since October 2025, the state has introduced clear rules: if you sell excisable goods, pay your employees no less than the established level, said Acting Head of the State Tax Service Lesya Karnaukh.
The current salary requirements are as follows:
- for businesses within and within 50 kilometers of regional centers – 2 minimum wage levels (in 2026 – 17,294 hryvnias);
- for businesses outside these limits and with a sales area of less than 500 square meters – 1.5 times the minimum wage (in 2026 – 12,970.5 hryvnias).
In February-March 2026 alone, the risks of violating these rules were confirmed in approximately 6,600 entrepreneurs. Moreover, they ignored the requirements for more than one month – and this is a direct path to license revocation.
Tax officials have already conducted about 1,500 actual inspections and covered almost a quarter of “risky” businesses. The result is that over 2,900 licenses have already been canceled or are in the process of being closed.
However, salaries are not the only problem. During inspections, other violations are regularly detected: the sale of alcohol and tobacco without excise stamps or with counterfeits, price manipulation, the absence of fiscal checks, and work without cash registers. For all this, entrepreneurs have already been fined almost 17 million hryvnias.
By the way, those entrepreneurs who were not ready for the new rules have already left the market. The number of licensees decreased by 3 thousand – from 56.1 thousand to 52.9 thousand. The number of licenses also decreased by 8 thousand – from 167.2 thousand to 158.6 thousand,
– Karnauch reported.
How will the price of cigarettes increase in Ukraine?
The increase in excise duty on cigarettes in Ukraine is taking place within the framework of European integration. The changes in April will add 8-10 hryvnias to the price of a pack. Economist Oleg Getman said this in a commentary on Channel 24 .
According to the expert, the main excise tax increases are planned in the Tax Code and will take place in the coming years. Thus, the tax will approach the minimum rate of the European Union.
Oleg Getman
Economist, coordinator of expert groups of the Economic Expert Platform
In April, it's just a small technical increase. All major increases will be from January 1st of each year. They bring us closer to the minimum rate of 90 euros per thousand cigarettes. For 2025, we already have about 80 euros, 2026 – 86 euros, 2027 – about 90 and on the 28th we reach the minimum EU level.
As the economist explains, the April increase is technical, because the share of excise duty in the retail price of cigarettes is less than the required 60%. To reach the required level, a coefficient of 1.1 is applied to the minimum excise tax liability. Accordingly, the excise duty automatically increases by 10%.
According to Oleg Getman, each subsequent stage of excise tax increase will, on average, increase the price of cigarettes by approximately 15–20 hryvnias .
Will VAT be introduced in Ukraine for individual entrepreneurs?
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On March 19, the Ministry of Finance published a draft law on increasing taxes in Ukraine. It concerned VAT for individual entrepreneurs from January 1, 2027.
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VAT was to be paid by businesses with an annual income of over 4 million hryvnias. These individual entrepreneurs and legal entities, currently paying a single tax (simplified tax), were required to switch to VAT.
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The idea of introducing VAT for individual entrepreneurs remains at the discussion stage, without a final decision, due to fears of increasing the tax burden and bureaucracy.
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Alternatives include improving tax administration and combating “business fragmentation” schemes, which could provide significant revenue to the budget.