Draft Law #15458 of July 30, 2026

Stage: under consideration in the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy.

Who is affected: the families of killed, deceased, and missing military personnel; persons held in captivity and those with whom contact has been lost; civilians deprived of personal liberty as a result of the aggression of the Russian Federation; people with disabilities caused by war; banks and other lenders; state enforcement officers.

Initiators: 21 members of parliament from the “Servant of the People” faction, the “For the Future” parliamentary group, and non-affiliated MPs, led by Olha Vasylevska-Smahliuk.

Summary:

  • exempts banks from tax adjustments when using reserves to forgive the debts of protected categories — this is the main financial incentive for lenders;
  • excludes forgiven debt (principal, interest, fees) from the taxable income of military personnel, civilians deprived of liberty, and people with disabilities caused by war;
  • raises the tax-free threshold for debt forgiveness for all other debtors from 25% to one minimum wage per year;
  • allows family members, heirs, and their representatives to apply to a bank with a request to forgive the loan of a person who was killed, went missing, was taken captive, or was a civilian deprived of liberty;
  • obliges lenders to publish contact details for such applications on the homepage of their website;
  • exempts protected categories of the population from the enforcement fee and adds a new ground for the closure of enforcement proceedings.

What is right:

  • It creates the legal and tax conditions for the voluntary cancellation of non-performing loans by financial institutions without generating additional tax liabilities, which will contribute to the stabilization of the credit market.
  • The families of military personnel and of civilians deprived of personal liberty will receive effective protection from unjustified tax pressure when debts are written off (forgiven) by lenders, which will strengthen the level of social guarantees under martial law.

What is wrong:

The draft law establishes neither a deadline for reviewing an application, nor an obligation to give reasons for a refusal, nor a mechanism for appeal. The family of a person missing in action may wait months for a response and never receive one at all. Nor is there a single list of supporting documents: each bank will determine the requirements independently, which in practice means a risk for the families of those missing in action, who have no death certificate and formally cannot prove anything.

Alternative solution:

Establish a clear deadline for reviewing an application, an obligation for the lender to provide a written, reasoned response, define a basic list of supporting documents, and provide for a clear mechanism of appeal to the National Bank.