The President of Ukraine has signed Law "On Amendments to the Customs Code of Ukraine and Other Laws of Ukraine regarding the Specifics of Customs Control and Customs Clearance of Certain Categories of Goods" (regarding customs clearance of biomethane ) No. 3613-IX of March 20, 2024.
The law regulates the customs clearance procedure for the export of biomethane from Ukraine, which should contribute to the development of the production of this type of fuel and expand Ukraine's export capabilities.
Also, this Law resolves the issue of raising the value threshold of goods that are forwarded by individual entrepreneurs and enterprises outside of Ukraine in international postal or express shipments without written declaration.
Before the changes, the obligation to submit a written customs declaration by businesses existed for goods worth more than 150 euros.
Now this threshold has been increased to 1,000 euros. This will reduce business costs and speed up logistics.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has changed the procedure for reserving employees. Amendments have been made to the Procedure for the reservation of conscripts on the list of conscripts during martial law, approved by Resolution No. 76 of January 27, 2023 “Some Issues of Implementation of the Provisions of the Law of Ukraine "On Mobilization Training and Mobilization" regarding the Reservation of Conscripts for the Period Mobilization and Wartime".
The changes are aimed at creating the necessary conditions for booking employees of enterprises, institutions and organizations, the fuel and energy complex and their contractors, which carry out construction, repair, restoration, provision of services, manufacture and/or supply of equipment, other engineering and technical measures aimed at restoring destroyed/damaged property of critical infrastructure objects as a result of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation, uninterrupted functioning of of the unified energy system and gas transport system of Ukraine in a special period, the list of which is approved by the Ministry of Energy.
The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, by Order No. 159 of April 1, 2024, approved the Methodology for verification of providing compensation to the employer for labor costs for the employment of internally displaced persons as a result of hostilities during martial law in Ukraine.
Verification of expense compensation is carried out by the Ministry of Finance by comparing data on the employer and each employed person from the number of internally displaced persons (hereinafter - the employed person), provided by the employer during the application for expense compensation, and the information of the subjects of information provision.
Regional employment centers, in the case of an application by an employer for compensation of expenses, form a request in the information and analytical platform of electronic verification and monitoring (hereinafter – the information and analytical platform) for the correspondence of the information reported by the employer to the data processed regarding them and the employed person in the information and analytical platform, and in real time receive confirmation of the compliance of the information provided by the employer with the requirements of the law, which affect the determination of their right to receive and the amount of compensation for expenses, or a recommendation to conduct an additional check of information containing inconsistencies, if the information and analytical platform provides the information provided for in Article 13 of the Law.
If the information and analytical platform does not contain information about the employer and/or information about the employed person provided for in Article 13 of the Law, the regional employment center considers the employer's application and assigns compensation of expenses in accordance with the law.
Access to information in the information and analytical platform using the web interface is provided by the Ministry of Finance to regional employment centers free of charge.
Verification of expense compensation takes place in the following stages:
1) verification of the authenticity of the personal data of the employed person and the registration data of the employer.
The object of checking data on an employed person is:
- series (if available) and passport number of a citizen of Ukraine, and for foreigners and stateless persons - details of the foreigner's passport document and/or document confirming the right to permanent residence in Ukraine;
- registration number of the taxpayer's registration card or series (if available) and passport number (for individuals who, due to their religious beliefs, refuse to accept the registration number of the taxpayer's registration card and have notified the relevant supervisory body about this and have a mark in the passport);
- unique record number in the Unified State Demographic Register (if available).
2) verification of the legality of providing compensation for expenses.
The check is carried out regarding:
- compliance with the terms of payment of funds to provide the employer with cost compensation, during which information is compared regarding:
- submission by the employer of quarterly tax reporting or annual tax reporting for the last reporting period as of the date of submission of the application for reimbursement of expenses according to the data of the information systems of the State Tax Service of Ukraine in accordance with the procedure established by law;
- employer's affiliation to a budget institution or mandatory state insurance funds according to the database of the network of managers and recipients of budget funds;
- death according to the data of the State Register of Civil Status Acts of Citizens;
- registration according to the data of the Unified Information Database on Internally Displaced Persons.
The Ministry of Economy of Ukraine has developed the draft order "On Amendments to Order of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine No. 991 of September 9, 2009" with the aim of liberalizing and unifying the procedure for issuing licenses for the export of goods.
This document proposes to bring the licensing procedure for the export of goods into compliance with:
- Resolution of the CMU No. 1402 of December 27, 2023 "On Approval of the Lists of Goods, Export and Import of which are Subject to Licensing, and Quotas for 2024";
- the Law of Ukraine "On Regulation of Economic Activities with Ozone-Depleting Substances and Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases", other legislative innovations, in particular, in the field of digitalization.
The draft order was revised in accordance with the comments and suggestions of the State Regulatory Service of Ukraine.
The draft order provides for:
- submission of documents by applicants and obtaining a License in electronic form through the information system of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine or through the means of the Unified State Web Portal of Electronic Services;
- reduction of the list of documents submitted by the applicant to obtain a License, clarification of the procedure for their submission, clarification of the procedure for obtaining a License;
- determination of the procedure for obtaining approval for the export of goods through the system of electronic interaction of executive power bodies from central executive power bodies in cases determined by the Government of Ukraine;
- submission by applicants of a payment order or payment information in electronic form;
- issuance of a License if there is information about the fact of payment in the relevant software products;
- bringing the terminology of Order No. 991 into compliance with the current legislation.
The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine made changes to the Procedure of single account operation and implementation of the norms of Art. 351 of the Tax Code by central bodies of executive power.
The changes were made in order to bring the norms of the Procedure into compliance with the current legislation in the part of the changes made by laws:
- No. 2801-IX "On Amendments to Some Legislative Acts of Ukraine Regarding Ensuring the Conclusion of an Agreement Between Ukraine and the European Union on Mutual Recognition of Qualified Electronic Trust Services and Implementation of European Union Legislation in the Field of Electronic Identification".
- No. 2620-IX "On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine "On Mandatory State Social Insurance" and the Law of Ukraine "On Mandatory State Pension Insurance"
- and in compliance with the laws "On Protection of Information in Information and Communication Systems", "On Mandatory State Social Insurance in case of Unemployment".
In particular, it is provided for the submission of information on the movement of funds on the single account on each operating day and the use of the single account by the payer no later than the working day following the day of submission of the notification.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved the draft law "On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine on Approximation of the Legislation of Ukraine to the Legislation of the European Union in Excise Tax."
The draft law is aimed at the implementation of Art. 353 of the Association Agreement and Appendix XXVIII to Chapter 4 "Taxation" of Chapter V "Economic and Sectoral Cooperation" of the Association Agreement and aims to bring excise tax rates closer to the minimum level established in the EU.
The Draft Law proposes to define the term "intermediate products" as wines and other fermented beverages (including mixtures of fermented beverages and mixtures based on fermented beverages), the actual strength of which is higher than 1.2% volume units of ethyl alcohol, but not higher than 22 % volume units of ethyl alcohol.
It also provides:
- increase in the excise tax rate from UAH 8.42 to UAH 12.23 per 1 liter (by UAH 3.81) for intermediate products (to the level of the current rate for sparkling wines and carbonated wines, fermented beverages, flavored sparkling (carbonated) wines (beverages);
- establishment of new fuel excise tax rates, taking into account their minimum level, in accordance with Directive 2003/96/EU, which will enter into force on January 1, 2028.
- In particular, it is proposed to establish the following excise tax rates:
- 359 euros per 1,000 liters for gasoline;
- on gas oil (diesel fuel) – 330 euros per 1000 liters;
- for liquefied gas - 277 euros for 1000 liters.
At the same time, a schedule for the annual increase of such rates is provided from January 7, 2024 to December 31, 2027 (inclusive), taking into account the general difference between the amounts of rates provided for as of January 1, 2028 and the amounts of excise tax rates provided for by current legislation. Clarification of the term "weighted average retail sale price of cigarettes" is also foreseen .
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved the Procedure for maintaining the Unified State Register of conscripts, military servicemen and reservists.
The procedure establishes the procedures for collecting, storing, processing and using information of the Unified State Register of conscripts, military servicemen and reservists, as well as determines the procedure for checking the validity of military registration documents by consular officials of foreign diplomatic institutions of Ukraine, clarifying personal data of conscripts and reservists.
The organization of information interaction of the Unified State Register of conscripts, military servicemen and reservists with information and communication systems, registers (including public ones), data bases (banks) of central executive bodies, defined in Art. 14 of the Law of Ukraine "On the Unified State Register of Conscripts, Conscripts and Reservists".
In addition, the procedure for electronic identification in electronic offices, the list of information displayed in them, as well as the list of services provided to conscripts, military servicemen, and reservists through electronic offices are defined.
The National Bank of Ukraine proposes for repeated public discussion changes to the organization of cash operations by banks and payment operations by payment service providers in Ukraine.
In March of this year, the National Bank proposed to strengthen the transparency of cash transfer transactions . In this regard, cash funds transferred by citizens in favor of individual entrepreneurs/legal entities must be credited by payment service providers to the latter's accounts (by IBAN number) in non-cash form.
At the same time, such changes do not concern citizens, they will still be able to choose the type of transfer and payment for services or goods of individual entrepreneurs and other legal entities convenient for them - in cash or non-cash.
In addition, in particular, it is envisaged:
- to reduce the terms of the National Bank's investigation of questionable banknotes and coins;
- to add a requirement for the mandatory availability of a document confirming the fact that the payment device has been unloaded, for subsequent delivery of cash to the bank's divisions and attachment to the cash documents of the bank day.
Such norms are contained in the updated draft of the Resolution "On Approval of Changes to the Instructions on the Procedure for Organizing Cash Work by Banks and Conducting Payment Operations by Payment Service Providers in Ukraine" (hereinafter – the Draft Resolution). In particular, it takes into account a number of proposals of financial market participants, provided as a result of the first discussion in March 2024.
