Imagine an entrepreneur who has paid taxes for years, holds second-group sole proprietor (FOP) status, runs a small workshop — and sincerely believes he’s done enough for the state to earn a reservation. Then he finds out: the law simply doesn’t see him. As of 2026, reservation for sole proprietors in Ukraine is legally impossible — neither for themselves nor for their hired employees.
This is a painful topic for hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians who chose the simplified taxation system over formal employment. Some are waiting for changes in legislation, others have already re-registered as LLCs, and still others simply hope for a deferment on other grounds. Let’s break down what’s allowed and what isn’t.
What the law says: FOP reservation and Resolution No. 76
- Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 76 of January 27, 2023 (as subsequently amended) grants the right to submit reservation lists exclusively to the heads of legal entities — enterprises, institutions, and organizations.
- A sole proprietor (individual entrepreneur) has no such status: a FOP is a natural person, not a legal entity, and therefore doesn’t fall under the Unified State Register of conscripts eligible for reservation.
- This applies even to sole proprietors working in industries critical to the economy or defense — FOP status itself doesn’t grant access to the reservation mechanism.
- Employees hired by a sole proprietor are also left out of the game: unlike employees of an LLC, a FOP employer cannot reserve them — again, because of the lack of legal-entity status.
- The exception is a separate deferment (not a reservation) for sole proprietors who directly fulfill defense orders for the state or the Armed Forces, through a separate procedure via the relevant authorities.
How FOP reservation differs from reservation for hired employees
The difference here isn’t a technicality but a fundamental one. An employee at a critically important enterprise can theoretically obtain a reservation: the employer, as a legal entity, keeps military records, is included in the Unified Register of Critically Important Enterprises, observes the quota — usually no more than 50% of conscripted employees in certain categories — and submits lists through Diia or the Ministry of Defense. A sole proprietor simply has no such mechanism, because the entire chain is built around the legal entity as employer, not around the entrepreneur as a natural person.
That’s why entrepreneurs for whom keeping their team and production running is critical are increasingly registering LLCs: it takes one to two days through Diia, and the founder automatically receives the rights of the head of a legal entity, including the ability to reserve both themselves and employees under the general rules.
Will FOP reservation change any time soon
The Ministry of Economy publicly acknowledges the problem and is working on changes that would extend economic reservation to sole proprietors — primarily IT specialists and gig contractors whose work is critical to the economy. But as of mid-2026, this remains at the level of draft bills and agency letters, not a binding norm. Until Resolution No. 76 is directly amended, sole proprietors remain outside the reservation system — regardless of any promises or public statements.
For a real business with a team, the solution doesn’t lie in waiting for change, but in employer status as a legal entity: that’s what opens access to legal employee reservation already today.
Working with official reservation at SpecServis
“SpecServis” is a critically important construction enterprise, so some of our vacancies come with an official reservation from mobilization for the duration of the employment contract. The list of current vacancies is updated regularly.
More details about working conditions are on the SpecServis careers page.
