The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has extended the adaptive quarantine until July 31, 2020. Until then, it will not be possible to stay in public buildings, structures and transport without wearing personal protective equipment. It is forbidden to carry more passengers in the transport than there are seats.
The mechanisms by which quarantine restrictions may be strengthened in regions with a high spread of COVID-19 have been updated. They can be set for:
- holding sports, cultural, religious and other mass events;
- activities of institutions that provide accommodation services;
- subway;
- transportation of passengers in all types of connections;
- visiting preschool institutions;
- works of cultural institutions, fitness centers and gyms;
- activities of food establishments.
A region with a high spread of COVID-19 will be a region in which one of the following features is present:
- bed occupancy is over 50%;
- the average number of PCR and EIA tests is less than 24 per 100 thousand population in the last seven days;
- the rate of detection of cases of COVID-19 infection is more than 11%;
- the rate of growth of cases of infection with COVID-19 more than eight cases per 100 thousand population.
Decisions on strengthening or easing restrictive measures will continue to be made by the regional commissions on technogenic and environmental safety and the emergency service on the basis of an assessment of the epidemic situation.
The Ministry of Health of Ukraine has published a list of countries that are classified as “red” and “green” in terms of COVID-19 incidence. According to the decision of the Government of Ukraine, the countries with a significant spread of COVID-19 are those in which the number of active cases of COVID-19 is more than 40 people per 100 thousand population.
It should be reminded that Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Acts of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine” No. 480 of June 12, 2020 stipulates that crossing the state border by a person who arrived from a state with widespread COVID-19 is the basis for its observation..
Citizens (subjects) of COVID-19 countries that have not been on the territory of these states during the last 14 days, employees of diplomatic missions and consular posts of foreign states, offices of official international missions, organizations accredited in Ukraine, and members of their families, drivers and crew members of lorries, crew members of aircraft and ships, river vessels, members of train and locomotive crews, participants of external independent evaluation together with one person accompanying each of them, are not subject to observation, if there is no reason to believe that they were in contact with a person with COVID-19. Also, persons who have consented to self-isolation using the electronic service “Act at home” are not subject to observation.
The State Tax Service of Ukraine (hereinafter – STSU) has explained the new rules of reporting on income tax.
The STSU published information letter No. 12, which considers the provisions of Law No. 466-IX “On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine to Improve Tax Administration, Eliminate Technical and Logical Inconsistencies in Tax Legislation” (hereinafter – Law No. 466).
This letter states that Law No. 466 has amended item 46.2 of Art. 46 of the Tax Code of Ukraine (hereinafter – Tax Code) on income tax reporting.
Given that these changes to item 46.2 of Art. 46 of the Tax Code entered into force on May 23, 2020, and the deadline for submission of declarations and financial statements for the reporting period (2019) has expired, then for the first time the rule of this item on mandatory submission of annual financial statements together with the audit report no later than June 10 of the year following the reporting year, is applied in 2021 following the results of 2020 reporting year.
That is, income taxpayers who, in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On Accounting and Financial Reporting in Ukraine” are required to publish annual financial statements and annual consolidated financial statements together with the auditor's report, submit to the supervisory authority:
- together with the tax return for the tax (reporting) period (2020) – a statement of financial position (balance sheet) and a statement of profit and loss and other comprehensive income (statement of financial performance), prepared before the audit of the financial statements by the auditor;
- together with the auditor's report no later than June 10, 2021 – the annual financial statements for 2020.
Item 46.2 of Article 46 of the Tax Code does not contain separate requirements for the actions of the taxpayer if the indicators published together with the audit report of the annual financial statements for 2020 change compared to the indicators of the statement of financial position (balance sheet) and income statement and other comprehensive income (statement of financial performance), which will be submitted together with the corporate income tax return for 2020, and such changes will affect the indicators of such annual return.
As a general rule of tax reporting in this case, income taxpayers who, in accordance with the Law “On Accounting and Financial Reporting in Ukraine” are required to disclose annual financial statements and annual consolidated financial statements together with the auditor's report, must submit a clarifying declaration to annual tax return for 2020 no later than June 10, 2021.
The tax authorities drew attention to the fact that item 49.4 of Art. 49 of the Tax Code of the Law No. 466 was supplemented with a new paragraph. According to it, the financial statements, statement of financial position (balance sheet), income statement and other comprehensive income (statement of financial performance), the submission of which to the supervisory authorities requires the above paragraph 46.2 of Art. 46 of the Tax Code, corporate income taxpayers and non-profit enterprises, institutions, organizations must submit in compliance with the laws “On electronic documents and electronic document management” and “On electronic trust services” (if such entities submit reports in soft copies).
The State Tax Service of Ukraine has reminded of the amendments to Law No. 466-IX “On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine to Improve Tax Administration, Eliminate Technical and Logical Inconsistencies in Tax Legislation” (hereinafter – Law No. 466) to improve the procedure for providing individual tax consultations by tax authorities (hereinafter - ITC).
In particular:
- it is determined that the user account provides an opportunity for the taxpayer to submit an application for ITC in soft copies (changes take effect on July 1, 2020);
- the right of tax authorities to provide individual tax consultations in soft copies;
- the number of calendar days for which the term of consideration of the application for ITC may be extended has been increased from 10 to 15.
Therefore, the total period (including extension) of the provision of ITC provided by the Tax Code will not exceed 40 days.
The tax authorities has pointed out that the rules on exemption from liability, including financial (penalties and/or fines) of the taxpayer who acted in accordance with the provided ITC, as well as general tax consultations (item 53.1 of Article 53 of the Tax Code) are valid until December 31, 2020.
From January 1, 2021 the specified norms according to Law No. 466 are transferred to item 112.8 of Art. 112 of the Tax Code and will continue to operate.
The State Labor Service of Ukraine has appealed to the heads of enterprises and organizations to take measures to prevent accidents when the air temperature rises on hot days.
In particular, construction companies in terms of rising air temperatures need to shift the working hours, limit the work of employees who perform the laying of external walls during peak hours, as well as increase technological breaks for construction crews. You should also develop a work schedule – 30 minutes employees perform their work and 30 minutes they rest. It is recommended to conduct unscheduled training for employees who perform work at height.
Enterprises of water supply and sewerage and agriculture in conditions of elevated ambient temperature should pay special attention and strengthen control over the implementation of gas-hazardous works and works in confined spaces (hatches, manholes, settling tanks, etc.). It is recommended to pay special attention to: providing workers with personal protective equipment; condition of sewage and treatment facilities, ensuring work in wells under the personal control of managers and specialists of enterprises, as well as work in the cabins of machines and mechanisms not equipped with air conditioners.
The State Labor Office indicates that employers are obliged to provide appropriate working conditions for employees at production facilities in conditions of high temperatures:
- limit performance of works of the increased danger, including works at height, operation of tower cranes and other construction cars, mechanisms;
- adjust the schedule of the working day, the duration of the work shift and lunch break, increase the number of technological breaks, namely: introduce an early start of the working day and, accordingly, its end, reduce the duration of work shifts, increase the lunch break from 13:00 to 16:00;
- provide employees with drinking water, prevent them from overheating;
- conduct unscheduled briefings with employees on compliance with the requirements of safe work and medical care in case of sunstroke and heat stroke, dizziness;
- complete medical kits in the workplace;
- conduct medical examinations at the beginning of the work shift of employees who perform work related to high-risk work, or operate high-risk facilities, etc.
