Throughout the war, thousands of Ukrainians have received financial support from the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and other international charitable foundations. With the start of the full-scale invasion, such organizations became one of the key sources of assistance, and recipients naturally asked: are these funds counted as income, and could they become grounds for reducing a pension or other social benefits? In response to RBC-Ukraine, Elena Voronkova, an attorney at Ivana Khomych Law Firm, provided an answer.
Why the question has arisen now
According to the lawyer, since the start of the full-scale invasion, many international charitable organizations have been providing and continue to provide charitable assistance. At the same time, Ukraine has a number of social benefits whose amount or eligibility depends on a person's income. This is why, in practice, the question arose of whether payments from charitable organizations should affect a person's right to receive such social benefits. The answer depends directly on how the law classifies these funds.
Charitable aid is not income
The key conclusion drawn by Elena Voronkova is that charitable aid, in itself, is not considered income. The lawyer reminded that amendments were made to the Tax Code of Ukraine clearly regulating that charitable aid received by a certain category of persons is not included in the taxpayer's annual income. Thus, at the level of tax legislation, these payments have been removed from the concept of "income," which eliminates most of the risks for recipients of social benefits.
Two conditions under which the rule applies
At the same time, the attorney emphasized that the rule excluding aid from income does not apply automatically, but only when two conditions are met. This refers to the confirmation of both statuses — that of the provider and that of the recipient of the aid. As Voronkova noted, if both statuses are confirmed, the income must not be taken into account either for the grant of benefits or for the calculation of payments. In other words, for the protection to work, it is important that both the donor organization and the recipient themselves are properly documented within the framework of charitable aid.
An important nuance: benefits tied to the absence of other payments
The lawyer also pointed to a separate group of benefits, the conditions for receiving which explicitly state that they can only be obtained if the person is not receiving payments from other international funds. This means that even if the aid is not considered income in the tax sense, it may be taken into account when deciding on the grant of a specific type of benefit. Therefore, according to Voronkova, in making a decision on which benefit a person is entitled to, all factors must be considered, not only the tax classification of the funds.
Related topics: pension and work record abroad
Against the backdrop of the pension discussion, lawyers also remind about other important mechanisms. For example, work experience in Poland can be taken into account for the right to a pension in Ukraine if the Ukrainian work record is insufficient for this; this requires the PL-UA 6 form, which is issued by the Polish ZUS. At the same time, the amount of the pension itself is calculated exclusively under Ukrainian legislation — only the work record acquired on the territory of Ukraine is taken into account. It is separately noted that certain categories of women have the right to early retirement at age 50, but this requires meeting several criteria.
