The President of Ukraine signed the Law of Ukraine “On amendments to some legislative acts of Ukraine on increase of level of corporate governance in joint stock companies” of 23.03.17, No. 1983-VІІІ, which established the mechanism of compulsory sale of shares by the shareholders at the request of a shareholder − owner of 95% shares.
However, a minority shareholder − owner of 5% of the shares is entitled to put forward the request to the owner of the packet of 95% of ordinary shares of the company on purchase of 5% of his/her 5% shares of the company at a fair price.
The main argument for introduction of such a mechanism in Ukraine: the owners of 5% of shares, in fact, have no influence on decision-making in joint stock companies (i.e., suspended from their control).
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Higher Education” on the right to the higher education of persons whose residence is temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine” of 16.05.17 No. 2026-VIII, which defined the conditions of admission to universities of persons whose residence was temporarily occupied territory of the Crimea. This normative legal act provides that Crimeans that have a document on general secondary education can enter the one of the universities in Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, and Odesa, or Kherson regions on a competitive basis by the results of entrance examinations. At the same time it is established a quota for admission of such persons − one thousand places of public orders (it should be distributed among the universities in these regions in order determined by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine).
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine by its Resolution “On amendments to annex to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of December 25, 1996 No. 1548 and ceasing to be invalid some Resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine” of 07.06.17 No. 394 finally abolished state regulation of prices on a number of goods and services from 01.07.17. In particular it applies to:
· limit trade (supply and sales) allowances to the wholesale price of manufacturer (customs value) for flour, bread, macaroni products, cereals, sugar, beef, pork and poultry, boiled sausages, milk, cheese, sour cream, butter, sunflower oil, eggs not exceed 15% excluding the cost of their transportation in intercity traffic;
· limits of profitability and trade margins on baby food;
· limited sizes of payment for services provided in trade facilities, in the markets for the sale of food and non-food products;
· limited price levels, profitability norms (in an amount not exceeding 20%) for the lease of commercial premises (areas), trade, technological and/or refrigeration equipment in commercial facilities in the markets for the sale of food and non-food products;
· limits of profitability of packing of food products for which there were introduced the state regulation of prices, excluding the cost of raw materials not higher than 10%.
Thus, now business can easily and quickly change prices for listed goods and services according to market price fluctuations. Also abolition of state regulation of prices indirectly will increase competition, decreasing the administrative burden on business and eliminating the corruption risks.
The State Fiscal Service of Ukraine in its letter “On correction coefficients” of 29.05.17 No. 13556/7/99-99-12-03-04-17 explained that payers of rent for the use of radio frequency resource were eligible to apply Note 1 (step-down coefficient of 0.75 according to para. 254.4 of the Tax Code of Ukraine (hereinafter − TCU) to the rates of rent for calculating of their tax liabilities. Such a right, according to representatives of fiscal agency guaranteed by the principle of legality of decisions in favour of the taxpayer in case of ambiguous interpretation of the rules (sub-para. 4.1.4 of TCU).
It is important that for the calculation of tax liabilities of radio communication in the system of data transfer using noise signals (e.g., for bandwidth of radio frequency of 60 MHz) lowering coefficient of 0.75 to be applied to 30 MHz, rest of 30 MHz to be taxed at the full rate.
The State Fiscal Service of Ukraine in its letter “On the payment (transfer) of the tax on personal income” of 22.05.17 No. 12807/7/99-99-13-01-01-17 reported that due to the reduction of rates of taxation of dividends (from 18 to 9%), the tax agents could recalculate the tax and return (enrol) the overpaid income tax. Representatives of the fiscal agencies recommend the use of “recalculating” way of reflection of excess tax withheld. Thus, if the tax agent corrects the situation in the second quarter of 2017 and in this period he/she did not charge and not pay any incomes to relevant persons, the results of recalculation in f. No. 1 DF for II quarter 2017 should be reflected in the following way:
· “0” should be put down in line 3 “The amount of accrued income” and 3a “The amount of paid income”;
· the amount of excessively withheld tax should be fixed with the sign “minus” in line 4 “The amount of accrued tax” and 4a “The amount of transferred tax” ;
· “109” should be noted in line 5 “The income sign”.
The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine by its Order “On Amendments to Some guidelines on accounting for public sector entities” of 03.05.17 No. 481 amended the guidelines of accounting for public institutions.
Adjustments relate to the formation of inventory (nomenclature) number of fixed assets in public sector. Now the first four (formerly three) signs of inventory numbers mean number of sub-account, the fifth – subgroup, the remaining signs − the serial number of the subject in the subgroup. The fifth sign may be marked by zero for groups of fixed assets for which the subgroups to be not allocated.
In addition, there were removed the rules which had to form funds in capital construction in progress due to capital investments in fixed and intangible assets. Increase of contributed capital investments will occur as well as reduction of targeted funding during the transfer of capital investments into the fixed or intangible assets simultaneously with a decrease in capital investment.
The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine by its Order “On Approval of Amendments to the forms and the Procedure of reporting on controlled transactions” of 28.04.17 No. 468 changed the form and procedure for reporting on controlled transactions approved by its order of 18.01.16 No. 8. There are a lot of changes but almost all of them are point and their majority has technical nature and the specifying.
Thus, due to changes in deadline of this report (May 1 deadline postponed to October 1) and increasing of cost criteria for recognizing of transactions controlled there were adjusted appropriate items of the procedure of its compilation.
Information regarding codes of reasons of referring of business transactions to controlled have been also supplemented and updated (Annex 1 to the Procedure).
In addition, the procedure is supplemented with norms: if the rate of profitability is calculated for the totality of controlled transactions during the year, but the grouping rule does not allow to show information about a grouping with a single line, the appropriate rate of return (column 22 of Report) and its numeric value (column 23 of Report) should be fixed in each of the lines, which represent the totality of these transactions.
The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine by its Order “On Approval of Amendments to the Procedure for monitoring of controlled transactions and the Procedure of the survey of authorized, officials and/or employees of the taxpayer on the transfer pricing” of 28.04.17 No. 470 amended the procedure for monitoring of controlled transactions (hereinafter − Procedure for monitoring) and the Procedure of the survey of authorized, officials and/or employees of the taxpayer on the transfer pricing approved by its order dated 14.08.15 No. 706.
In particular, it is determined the period during which taxpayers are required to submit the information specified in the request of supervisory authority on the results of the primary analysis, and its documented evidence. This should be done within 15 working days from the day following the day of receipt of the request.
Also it is determined that the initial analysis should be carried out regardless of whether the taxpayer submitted report on controlled transactions for the corresponding period.
In addition, it is stipulated that monitoring of controlled transactions carried out during the reporting period 2013 and 2014, should be carried out according to the Procedure for monitoring considering the peculiarities of norms of Art. 39 of TCU in the version that was in force until 01.01.15.
The Social Insurance Fund against accidents and occupational diseases of Ukraine (hereinafter − the Fund) in its letter “On participation in the investigation of accidents that have occurred in the territories temporarily uncontrolled by the Ukrainian authorities” of 22.05.17 No. 100-06-3 reported: if the accident occurred with the employee in the territory temporarily uncontrolled by the Ukrainian authorities, the relevant documents (urgent notification about the accident, reports of occupational disease in the form П-3, certificates of medical institutions, etc.) which issued, approved or signed after December 1, 2014 by institutions not subordinated to the Ukrainian authorities, can not be considered as such which are prepared in accordance with the requirements of Ukrainian legislation. Accordingly, it is excluded the possibility of their use for investigating accidents or causes of occupational diseases.
Appropriate conditions for the establishment of commissions, obtaining necessary materials, conduction of impartial investigation and comprehensive investigation of accidents with the requirements of the Procedure for investigation and record keeping of accidents, occupational diseases and accidents at work, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine from 30.11.11 No. 1232, are absent currently, the Fund mentioned.
Thus, the working bodies of the executive management of the Fund in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions provide accumulation of information that they receive about accidents and diseases that have occurred in the territory temporarily uncontrolled by Ukrainian authorities, with the purpose of possible return to the investigation of these cases after the release of temporarily occupied territories.
The Supreme Administrative Court of Ukraine in its order from 16.05.17 in case No. К/800/53389/15 explains that that not filling in the column 3 “The amount of paid income (UAH, cop.)” in f. No. 1ДФ does not affect the tax liability and therefore there are no reasons to use a fine of UAH 510 (and in case of repeated violations during the year − UAH 1 020) under para. 119.2 of TCU.
Furthermore, in case of delayed payment of the income tax, it should be applied the sanctions to the company under Art.126 of TCU, but not Art.127 of TCU. Of course, this conclusion is good news. Since para.126.1 of TCU provides for a fine of 10% of the amount paid late if the delay is to 30 calendar days, and if a longer period − 20%. But, in para.127.1 of TCU, the larger fines are fixed, and grading of their size depends on the sequence of the violation within 1 095 days: -25% for the first violation; 50% for the second; -75% for the third.
