Foreign ETFs from Ukraine: S&P 500 history, Ukrainian tax and how to buy

01What it is

An ETF is an exchange-traded fund. You buy its units through a broker, and the fund uses the money to hold a basket of securities. An index ETF tracks an index: a fund on the S&P 500 holds the shares of the largest US companies in the same proportions as the index. The article How to read an ETF explains how to read a fund's holdings and costs.

The figures on this page are for US stocks (the S&P 500) only: that index has a long, open return history. Funds on a world index such as MSCI World behave differently, and their history is not shown here.

Funds differ in what they do with the companies' dividends. Distributing funds pay them out to unit holders, like the US-domiciled IVV. Accumulating funds reinvest them, like the Irish CSPX and IWDA marked Acc. That decides when and how much tax you pay in Ukraine.

02What it pays now

A stock fund has no return "now": its price changes every day, and last year promises nothing about the next. So the board shows a range: the worst and the best result among all periods of the given length in the S&P 500's history from 1961 to 2025. It is the total return in dollars, dividends included, after the fund fee:

• over one calendar year: −36.6% … 37.0%;
• over three years in a row, on average a year: −14.6% … 30.7%;
• over ten years in a row, on average a year: −1.5% … 18.9% (Source: A. Damodaran, NYU Stern, Dec 31, 2025).

The longer the period, the narrower the range. But even among the ten-year periods, one ended in a loss.

The fund fee (TER) is deducted from the fund's value every year: 0.03% for IVV, 0.07% for CSPX and 0.20% for IWDA, a fund on the MSCI World index (Source: BlackRock (iShares), Oct 24, 2026). The board subtracts the midpoint between the cheapest and the dearest of these funds: 0.12% a year. The broker charges its own fee on trades, which is not included here.

Over the last twelve months, IVV paid out 1.10% of its value in dividends (Source: BlackRock (iShares), Sep 30, 2026). Those payments are already in the returns above, because the S&P 500 history here includes dividends.

03After tax and inflation

Your tax in Ukraine depends on how you receive the income. A foreign broker does not withhold Ukrainian tax, so you declare and pay it yourself in your annual tax return.

Selling units. The gain on a sale is taxed as investment profit: personal income tax of 18% and a military levy of 5%, 23% in all (Source: Верховна Рада України, Oct 12, 2026). The gain is counted in hryvnias, including the exchange-rate difference. If the hryvnia has fallen, that part is taxed too, even when the fund has not grown in dollars. Once martial law ends, the military levy will fall to 1.5%, but not at once.

Dividends. For dividends from foreign companies and funds, the Ukrainian rate is personal income tax of 9% and a military levy of 5%. But on a US fund's dividends, the US already withholds 15% under the US–Ukraine tax treaty (Source: Internal Revenue Service, Oct 24, 2026). You can credit that tax against the Ukrainian income tax in your annual return, with a document proving it was paid, and no Ukrainian income tax is left to pay. Whether the military levy can be reduced the same way is not settled: most likely not. With the US tax, a dividend then loses about 20%.

Accumulating funds pay nothing out, so there is no tax until you sell. The board counts exactly this case: everything is taxed once, at a sale at the end of the period.

Inflation then takes its share: 3.7% in the US and 10.0% in Ukraine. For the hryvnia view, the board assumes that the hryvnia falls each year by its historical average, 6.0%; that is an assumption, not a forecast, and the window and method are in the board's method note.

Devaluation cuts both ways. In hryvnias it adds to the result, but that addition is taxed too, so less is left in dollars after tax when the hryvnia falls. Over ten years, the after-tax range in dollars is −2.3% … 16.2% with devaluation and −1.5% … 16.4% if the rate stays flat.

The first table is for a horizon of up to three years, the board's default; the second is for ten years. Both show the whole range, from the worst period in the history to the best.

04Who guarantees it

There is no Ukrainian guarantee: Ukraine's deposit guarantee system covers deposits at banks, not securities held abroad.

If your account is with a US broker that is a SIPC member and the broker fails, SIPC returns customers' securities and cash up to $500,000, of which up to $250,000 in cash (Source: Securities Investor Protection Corporation, Oct 24, 2026). You do not need to be a US citizen or resident. But SIPC does not cover market losses: if the fund falls, the loss is yours. Brokers in other countries have their own protection schemes, so check which of the broker's companies opens your account.

05How fast you can get out

Units can be sold on the exchange on any trading day, and the money reaches your brokerage account within days. Bringing the money back to Ukraine takes longer: a transfer from the brokerage account to your Ukrainian bank account goes through banks or payment services and costs their fees.

You can sell at any time, but the price that day may be below what you paid. So money you may need soon does not go into a stock fund: the board shows this option only for horizons of three years or more.

06Minimum amount

If the broker does not sell fractions of units, the minimum is one unit. One IVV unit cost $763.23 (Source: BlackRock (iShares), Oct 23, 2026), and one CSPX unit $822.71 (Source: BlackRock (iShares), Oct 23, 2026). The board takes the cheaper of them: $763.23.

Some brokers sell fractions of units, and then you can start with less; the board does not count that. Minimum deposits and broker fees differ: the broker reviews compare them.

07Main risk

The main risk is a fall in the stock market. The result of a single calendar year in the S&P 500's history ranged as follows: −36.6% … 37.0%. After a deep fall, the market can take years to return to its previous level.

• The market. Even over ten years in a row, some periods ended in a loss: −1.5% … 18.9% a year.
• The hryvnia rate. If you count in hryvnias, a dollar fund gains from devaluation but loses if the hryvnia strengthens, and the tax applies to the currency gain too.
• Transfer rules. During martial law, the National Bank of Ukraine restricts transfers abroad, and these rules change.
• US estate tax. If the holder of units in a US-domiciled fund such as IVV dies and their US assets exceed $60,000, the executor has to file a US estate tax return (Source: Internal Revenue Service, Jun 27, 2026). Units of US funds most likely count as US assets and those of Irish funds do not; we have not checked for a US–Ukraine treaty on this tax.
• The broker. An account abroad depends on whether the broker serves Ukrainians and how it protects clients' assets.

08How to buy from Ukraine

From Ukraine you can buy ETFs in two ways: through a foreign broker or through a Ukrainian one.

A foreign broker. A National Bank of Ukraine regulation lets an individual transfer up to €200,000 a year abroad for investment (Source: Національний банк України, Sep 17, 2026). But during martial law, the National Bank's resolution on currency restrictions prohibits cross-border transfers except the cases it lists, and investing abroad is not among them, so that limit most likely does not apply. Another route stays open: from your own foreign-currency account you can send up to UAH 100,000 a month to cards and to top up e-wallets (Source: Національний банк України, Sep 17, 2026), and top up the brokerage account from the wallet. Whether a given transaction goes through depends on the bank. Paying a broker by card within the monthly allowance for purchases abroad does not work: brokers are excluded from that allowance.

A Ukrainian broker. A Ukrainian bank may sell an individual up to UAH 200,000 a month of non-cash currency, bank metals and foreign securities held in Ukraine's depository system (Source: Національний банк України, Sep 17, 2026). That way you can buy foreign securities through a Ukrainian broker, if it offers the fund you want.

1. Choose a broker and check that it opens accounts for Ukrainians: for example, the Interactive Brokers review covers opening an account and funding it from Ukraine.
2. Choose a fund: the index, the fee, the country of domicile, and whether it pays out dividends or reinvests them.
3. Keep the dates and amounts of every purchase and sale: the tax is counted on the gain in hryvnias, taking into account the exchange rate on the date of each transaction.

09Work it out further

• Work out regular purchases in the dollar-cost averaging calculator.
• See how much a fund fee takes over the years in the fees drag calculator.
• The article What are market indices explains what an index is and how it is calculated.
• Compare ETFs with OVDP on the OVDP page, and with every option on the Where to invest board.