Justification of the Choice of the VAT Rate by Taxpayers of the Simplified Taxation System

The relevance of the article is due to the difficulty of choosing a VAT rate option for small businesses in the context of tax reform due to their lack of proper tax management skills. The subject of the study is VAT under the simplified taxation system (STS) from 2025. The purpose of the work is to justify the choice of VAT rates by taxpayers who are on the STS, depending on the cost structure. The practical significance and scientific value of the study lies in the proposal of calculation algorithms and models that allow mathematically substantiating the preference for one or another variant of the tax rates for economic entities using the tax system. It is concluded that it is more profitable to apply generally established VAT rates when the share of material and equivalent resources in the range from 75 to 30% is exceeded. At the same time, the larger the size of the taxpayer’s generally established VAT rates, the higher this share. If the share of material resources is lower than the specified values, it is more profitable to apply reduced VAT rates. Proposals for further research on the identified issues are formulated.