The number of sole traders in Ukraine has risen by 11,000 since the start of 2026

This was announced by Danylo Getmantsev, Chair of the Verkhovna Rada’s Finance Committee.

Danylo Getmantsev reported that since the start of the year, the number of sole traders in Ukraine has increased by 11,297, with a total of 63,920 people starting their own businesses. At the same time, he stressed that this figure should not automatically be interpreted as a sign of an economic surge or a sharp revival in business.

According to him, such trends are more likely to reflect structural changes in the market. This refers, in particular, to the development of digital services and changes in employment formats, where part of economic activity is shifting towards small businesses, self-employment or the online sector. These processes are particularly noticeable in the context of the war, the relocation of companies and the restructuring of the labour market.

Separately, Getmantsev noted that the simplified taxation system is often used by large businesses to minimise taxes by splitting their activities into separate sole traders. That is why, in his view, the state must step up the fight against such schemes without putting pressure on legitimate small businesses.

For the economy, this means that the number of new sole traders should not be viewed solely as a positive sign. More indicative are the ability of small businesses to operate consistently, create jobs and pay taxes. This conclusion follows from Getmantsev’s statement and the accompanying analysis by Delo.ua.

A separate indicator is employment in the sole trader sector. According to OpenDataBot, citing the State Tax Service, in 2025 over 817,000 Ukrainians were employed by sole traders. In total, 302,260 entrepreneurs had employees, and in fact, one in seven sole traders created jobs. On average, there were three employees per such entrepreneur.

Overall, according to OpenDataBot, thanks to sole traders, over 2.9 million Ukrainians were in work last year: 2.1 million were self-employed, whilst a further 817,000 were employees. This shows that the sole trader sector is important not only as a form of business registration, but also as a significant part of the labour market.

Thus, the increase in the number of sole traders at the start of 2026 indicates not so much a “boom” as a transformation of the business environment, in which small businesses, self-employment and flexible working arrangements are playing an increasingly prominent role.

As reported by ThePublic, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko stated that following consultations in Washington, the International Monetary Fund agreed that introducing VAT for sole traders is not currently a constructive idea. At the same time, the issue does not appear to be definitively closed, as the current IMF programme documents previously envisaged an expansion of the VAT base from 2027, and there is already talk in parliament of possibly postponing this discussion until the summer.

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