The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine reported on its website that on January 1, 2019, the application of the provisions of the Regional Convention on Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Preferential Rules of Origin began between Ukraine and the European Union in bilateral trade.
Pan-Euro-Med Convention is an instrument that establishes identical rules of origin for goods used in the framework of free trade agreements between its contracting parties.
In the future, the use of Pan-Euro-Med will increase the benefits for national exporters by opening additional opportunities for Ukrainian producers: they will be able to use the principle of diagonal cumulation of origin of goods applied between parties to the Convention, subject to the existence of free trade regimes between them.
There are currently 25 members of the Convention, namely: the EU, EFTA countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland), Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Kosovo, Macedonia, Morocco, Moldova, Palestine, Serbia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, Faroe Islands and Montenegro.
Ukraine concluded free trade agreements with the following members of the Regional Convention: EU, EFTA, Georgia, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro. The Free Trade Agreement between Ukraine and Israel is being prepared for signing. Negotiations on the conclusion of the Free Trade Agreement between Ukraine and Turkey are ongoing.
In practice, the application of the provisions of the Pan-Euro-Med Convention means that the Ukrainian producer will be able to procure raw materials or components in one of the parties to the Convention and export the finished products to another party to the Convention without paying customs duties or at a reduced rate of duty.
This will facilitate the opening of new production capacities, increased use of production potential, and the involvement to the regional and international chains of value added creation.
The State Fiscal Service of Ukraine in the category 109.03 “ZIR” reports on the use of cash registers when the sale of its own production, which, according to para. 1 of Art. 9 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Application of Registrars of Settlement Operations in the Sphere of Trade, Catering and Services” of 06.07.1995, No. 265/95-BP cash registers and accounting books are not applied when the trade in products of own production (except for technically complicated household goods that are subject to warranty repair, as well as medical products and medical supplies) enterprises, institutions and organizations of all forms of ownership, except for trade and catering enterprises, in the case of calculations in these enterprises, institutions and organizations with registration of incoming and outgoing cash orders and issue an appropriate receipt, signed by an authorized person of appropriate entity.
Products of own production include products manufactured and sold by the enterprise itself in a single technological process using their own or hired labor.
The State Fiscal Service of Ukraine in its Individual Tax Advice “On the registration of a cash transfer transaction through the cash register or issuing a payment receipt to the holder of an electronic payment instrument” of 28.12.2018, No. 5449/6/99-99-14-05-01-15/ІПК reported: an enterprise that provides holders of electronic payment instruments with the service of cash withdrawals using payment terminal (imprinter) on the basis of receipts of the payment terminal (spins), registers these transactions in the settlement documents of cash registers, creates account cash warrant for the total amount of transactions per day and makes an entry in the cash book.
At the same time, the cash receipt must additionally contain the following requisites:
· identifier of the acquirer and the merchant or other requisites that enable them to be identified;
· identification of payment device;
· amount of the commission (if any);
· transaction type;
· details of the electronic payment instrument (payment card) (valid by the rules of the security of the payment system), preceded by the capital letters “ЕПЗ”;
· inscription “Код авт.” (authorization code) and the authorization code or other code identifying the transaction in the payment system, except for cases when the rules of settlement of the payment system, which provide for the compilation of settlement documents with the use of electronic payment means (payment cards) without the implementation of authorization procedures;
· signature of the cashier and signature of the holder of the electronic payment instrument (payment card) (if provided by the rules of the payment system) in separate lines preceded by the inscriptions “Cashier” and “Holder of ЕПЗ” respectively.
Therefore, when a cash withdrawal transaction is reflected, it should be indicated “Cash withdrawals” and the relevant details of such a check for the holder of an electronic payment instrument in the cash withdrawal check of the cash register.
The State Fiscal Service of Ukraine in the category 103.25 “ZIR” answers the question of how the personal income tax is taxed and on what basis income is reflected in the tax calculation according to the form No. 1DF, the amount paid by the employer in favor of domestic higher and vocational schools for the training of the individuals (of the employee).
Article 165 of the Tax Code of Ukraine (hereinafter – TCU) establishes a list of incomes that are not included in the calculation of the total monthly (annual) taxable income of the taxpayer, in particular, the amount paid by any legal entity or individual in favor of domestic higher and vocational education establishments for education, for training or retraining of a taxpayer, but not more than three times the amount of the minimum salary established by law on January 1 of the reporting (tax) year for each full or incomplete month of the trainees preparation, training or re-training of such an individual (paras.165.1.21 of TCU).
In 2019, an amount of UAH 12 519.00 (UAH 4173.00 × 3) for full or part-time training is exempted from the PIT taxation.
The accrual, withholding and payment (transfer) of the personal income tax to the budget is carried out in accordance with the procedure established by Art. 168 of TCU.
Thus, the amount paid by the employer in favor of domestic higher and vocational education institutions, which does not exceed UAH 12 519.00 in 2019 for each full or part-time month of training, preparation or retraining of an individual (employee), is not included in the taxable income of such an individual.
In this case, the funds paid by the employer for the training of an individual (employee) in terms of exceeding the amount specified in paras. 165.1.21 of TCU, the personal income tax is taxed at the rate specified in para. 167.1 of the Tax Code (18%).
The procedure for filling and submission by the tax agents of the tax calculation of the amount of income accrued (paid) in favor of individuals, and the amount of tax deducted from them is approved by the order of the Ministry of Finance of 13.01.2015 No. 4 (hereinafter – the Procedure).
In accordance with the Guide of income item in the Annex to the Procedure, the amount paid by the employer in favor of domestic higher and vocational education institutions for an individual for his/her preparation or retraining is reflected in the tax calculation according to the form No. 1DF according to the income “145”.
The State Fiscal Service of Ukraine in its Individual Tax Advice “On the definition of the term “agricultural enterprise – producer” of 22.12.2018, No. 5372/6/99-99-15-03-02-15/ІПК reported that paragraph 63 of subsection 2 of section XX of the TCU provides for the temporary exemption from VAT of export transactions:
• soybeans – from 01.09.2018 to 31.12.2021;
• seeds of fennel or rape – from 01.01.2020 to 31.12.2021.
The exemption does not apply to export transactions by agricultural companies - producers of soybeans and rape or rape seeds grown on agricultural land owned or used by the permanent residents or used by them on a lease (sublease) or emphyteusis basis.
However, there is no definition of the term “agricultural company” in the current legislation. Therefore, the official definition of this definition of exemption from VAT is not applicable to such transactions.
The National Bank of Ukraine adopted the Resolution “On Approval of the Amendments to the Instruction on the Procedure for the Opening, Use and Closing of Accounts in National and Foreign Currencies” of 28.12.2018, No. 159, which gave the right to third parties to identify and verify individuals when opening accounts in a bank.
This step will optimize the system of identification and verification of individuals, as well as increase financial inclusion and affordability of financial services.
In particular, banks got the right:
· when opening an account, use information about the identification data of clients - individuals received from another bank through the BankID system of the National Bank. Between the bank that opens the account and the bank that is the subscriber-identifier, the corresponding contract agreement must be concluded. The identification procedure is determined by the normative legal acts of the National Bank on financial monitoring and functioning of the BankID system of the National Bank;
· to entrust resident legal entities, individuals-entrepreneurs residents and individuals-residents (agents) on a contractual basis to identify and verify the clients of the bank - individuals. The procedure for such identification and verification is determined by the normative legal act of the National Bank on Financial Monitoring.
Also, the National Bank:
· provided the opportunity to transfer funds in national currency from the current account of a resident individual to the current account of a non-resident individual in the case of selling a private non-resident individual property in the territory of Ukraine to a resident individual if this property is not the object of investment activity in Ukraine;
· abolished the provision on the submission by an individual carrying out an independent professional activity to the bank at the time of opening, the account a copy of the document confirming that the person was registered in the Pension Fund of Ukraine;
· granted the right to individuals to transfer funds from current accounts to repayment of inherited savings (deposits) certificates and interest thereon;
· determined the necessity of submitting to the bank foreign representations employing hired labor and, in accordance with the laws of Ukraine, are payers of the unified contribution, copies of the document confirming their registration with the relevant controlling body;
· regulated the settlement by an individual resident of foreign currency settlements with the primary dealer for the transactions of placement of bonds of domestic government loan denominated in foreign currency.
