How to pay taxes when selling a passenger car

When this applies

If you are selling your own pas­sen­ger car in Lviv or the sur­round­ing region, first es­ti­mate the taxes based on your doc­u­ments. The order of sale can change the per­son­al income tax rate from zero to 5% or 18%, and a 5% mil­i­tary levy is added to taxable income. It is useful to cal­cu­late this before agree­ing on the date and final con­tract price.

This guide covers a private seller who is a Ukrain­ian tax res­i­dent and sells a pas­sen­ger car in 2026. It does not cover a sale in the course of busi­ness, a sale by a non-res­i­dent, a gift, an ex­change, in­her­i­tance, a special re­duc­tion of income fol­low­ing one-time asset dis­clo­sure, or a mixed history of sales in­volv­ing dif­fer­ent vehicle types. In those cases, the ap­plic­a­ble rate and doc­u­ments require sep­a­rate review.

Applicable deadline or procedure

Under Article 173 of the Tax Code, the first pas­sen­ger-car sale in a cal­en­dar year is exempt from per­son­al income tax. The second sale is subject to a 5% rate, and the third and each sub­se­quent sale to 18%. In 2026, the mil­i­tary levy on taxable income is 5%. The seller’s sales history is counted for the year, so the city of reg­is­tra­tion or lo­ca­tion of a pre­vi­ous trans­ac­tion does not reset the count.

For the second and sub­se­quent sales, compare the con­tract price with the of­fi­cial average market value or the market value de­ter­mined by an ap­praisal. The seller chooses one of the methods pro­vid­ed for in Article 173. Taxable income cannot be lower than the se­lect­ed of­fi­cial value. The cal­cu­la­tor cal­cu­lates per­son­al income tax and the mil­i­tary levy sep­a­rate­ly and rounds each amount to the nearest kopeck. This is a trans­par­ent es­ti­mate method, not a con­clu­sion on every detail of a par­tic­u­lar con­tract.

Example for a seller in Lviv: the seller enters into their second pas­sen­ger-car sale agree­ment of the year for UAH 640,000. The se­lect­ed of­fi­cial value is UAH 700,000, so the pre­lim­i­nary tax base is UAH 700,000. Per­son­al income tax at 5% and the mil­i­tary levy at 5% total UAH 70,000. If the trans­ac­tion is com­plet­ed through an MIA service centre with a private buyer, check sep­a­rate­ly whether an annual tax return is re­quired after payment.

Step-by-step process

First, collect the con­tracts for all your vehicle sales in 2026. Record the date of each trans­ac­tion in Ukraine time and the type of vehicle. Do not treat a mo­tor­cy­cle or moped sale as “another car sale”: dif­fer­ent vehicle types have sep­a­rate rules, so a mixed history re­quires in­di­vid­ual analy­sis.

Next, confirm who owns and sells the vehicle, as well as the actual price agreed by the parties in the con­tract. Even if an au­tho­rised rep­re­sen­ta­tive signs under a power of at­tor­ney, the tax oblig­a­tion belongs to the owner. For a taxable sale, obtain the se­lect­ed of­fi­cial value using the re­quired method, keep sup­port­ing ev­i­dence, and compare it with the con­tract price.

Decide how the trans­ac­tion will be com­plet­ed before signing. If you choose an MIA service centre, check the current doc­u­ment list, ap­point­ment avail­abil­i­ty, and payment pro­ce­dure on the of­fi­cial Main Service Centre of the MIA portal. If you are selling a car in a com­mu­ni­ty in Lviv region, check the ap­point­ment and doc­u­ment list for the spe­cif­ic service centre where you plan to re-reg­is­ter it. A pre­vi­ous sale com­plet­ed in Lviv or outside the region also counts toward this year’s order of sales. If a notary will certify the agree­ment, confirm the doc­u­ments, proof of payment, and any other grounds for filing an annual tax return with them.

After a taxable sale to a private buyer through an MIA service centre, keep the agree­ment and re­ceipts. Ac­cord­ing to the State Tax Service, payment during re-reg­is­tra­tion does not by itself remove the oblig­a­tion to file an annual tax return. Before filing, check the dead­line and form under the current rules for your re­port­ing year; do not use out­dat­ed payment tem­plates.

What to check before filing

Compare the VIN, owner details, price, and vehicle type in the doc­u­ments; an error here matters more than round­ing in a cal­cu­la­tor. Check for en­cum­brances and re­stric­tions on dis­pos­al in the ap­pro­pri­ate reg­is­ters during the trans­ac­tion. If the car is jointly owned by spouses, sep­a­rate­ly check the prop­er­ty rights and any re­quired con­sents; the tax amount does not de­ter­mine whether the seller has au­thor­i­ty to act.

The sale of an apart­ment or house is gov­erned by a dif­fer­ent article of the Tax Code: the sep­a­rate housing tax cal­cu­la­tor cannot be used for a car. If a buyer in Lviv is reg­is­ter­ing a pas­sen­ger car in Ukraine for the first time, the buyer may find the guide to the pension levy useful. This guide cal­cu­lates only the seller’s per­son­al income tax and mil­i­tary levy.

When to consult a lawyer

Ask a lawyer to review the trans­ac­tion if you sold dif­fer­ent types of ve­hi­cles during the year, the car belongs to spouses or several owners, a power of at­tor­ney is in­volved, your tax-res­i­dent status is unclear, or the seller relies on a special tax re­duc­tion. A lawyer can check the legal basis, sale order, val­u­a­tion, and tax-return process before signing, rather than after a tax or own­er­ship dispute arises.