The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has approved the draft state budget for 2024 in the first reading.
The revenue part of the State Budget is UAH 1.746 trillion, the expenditure part is UAH 3.3 trillion, and the limit of the deficit is UAH 1.593 trillion.
According to Art. 8 of the bill on the minimum wage in 2024 establishes:
- monthly amount: from January 1 – UAH 7,100, from April 1 – UAH 8,000;
- hourly: from January 1 – UAH 42.6, from April 1 – UAH 48.
The amount of the minimum wage at the level of UAH 1,600, which is used as an estimate for calculating payments according to court decisions, has also been determined.
According to Art. 7 of the bill, from January 1, 2024, the subsistence minimum for individuals per month will be UAH 2,920.
Subsistence minimum for the main social and demographic groups of the population:
- children under 6 years of age – UAH 2,563;
- children aged 6 to 18 years – UAH 3,196;
- able-bodied individuals – UAH 3,028;
- individuals who have lost their ability to work – UAH 2,361;
- able-bodied individuals, which is used to determine the basic salary of a judge, – UAH 2,102;
- able-bodied individuals, which is used to determine the salaries of employees of other state bodies whose wages are regulated by special laws, as well as employees of tax and customs authorities – UAH 2,102;
- able-bodied individuals, which is used to determine the official salary of the prosecutor of the district prosecutor's office, – UAH 1,600.
The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, by Order No. 519 of September 26, 2023, made changes to the form of the Declaration on the tax on immovable property other than land.
The changes are due to the automation of the procedure for accepting and processing tax reporting. In particular, the need for independent assessment of the penalty by the tax payer on immovable property, other than land, has been eliminated.
So, in the Declaration and Appendixes 1 and 2 to the Declaration, lines and notes regarding the procedure for calculating the penalty amount are excluded.
In addition, the Declaration excludes the position “This part of the Tax Declaration is filled out by the officials of the controlling body”, which indicates the results of the inspection of the Declaration by the official of the controlling body.
The State Tax Service of Ukraine has informed about the entry into force of Order of the Ministry of Finance No. 396 of July 17 2023 “On the approval of Amendments to the Procedure for accounting of taxpayers and fees” (hereinafter – the Order).
By this Order, the provisions of the Procedure for accounting of taxpayers and fees, approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance No. 1588 of December 9, 2011 (hereinafter – the Accounting Procedure), are brought into compliance with Laws of Ukraine No. 2042-IX of February 15, 2022 “On Amendments to the Budget Code of Ukraine” (hereinafter – Law No. 2042-IX), of January 12, 2023 No. 2888-IX “On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine and other legislative acts of Ukraine regarding payment services” (hereinafter – Law No. 2888-IX), as well as improving individual issues of accounting of taxpayers in controlling bodies.
The main changes are as follows:
- the rules of the Accounting Procedure concerning the opening of accounts in banks and other financial institutions are supplemented by similar rules regarding the opening of accounts with non-bank payment service providers or electronic wallets with issuers of electronic money;
- the provisions of the Accounting Procedure regarding the tax number are brought into line with the new version of item 63.6 of the Tax Code;
- the provisions of the Accounting Procedure regarding the payment of taxes and fees in the event of a change in the location of the business entity are specified, in particular, it is noted that in the event of a change in the location of the business entity and its registration as a taxpayer at the new location, the payment of national taxes and fees determined by the tax legislation, which are distributed between the state and local budgets, and local taxes and fees is carried out at the place of preliminary registration of the taxpayer before the end of the current budget period (in accordance with the changes introduced by Law 2042-IX to Part 8 of Article 45 and Part 5 of Article 78 of the Budget Code of Ukraine);
- the duplication of procedures has been eliminated and it has been established that the registration of a foreign company in the event that the only and first reason for registration is the foreign company's acquisition of the status of a tax resident of Ukraine is carried out in accordance with the Procedure for registration and removal of a foreign company as a payer of income tax of enterprises with the status of tax resident of Ukraine, approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance No. 663 of December 1, 2021 (amendments to item 5.4 of Chapter V of the Accounting Procedure);
- the application on form No. 8-ОПП can be submitted personally by the taxpayer or a representative authorized to do so, by mail or in electronic form (amendments to item 11.2, Chapter XI of the Accounting Procedure);
- the application form for registration of a non-resident or its separate subdivision has been improved (form No. 1-ОПН).
The National Bank of Ukraine has developed recommendations for the preparation of information sheets submitted to the regulator for approval:
- providers of financial payment services to authorize their activities;
- operators of payment systems and institutions representing non-resident payment systems for the purpose of agreeing the conditions and procedure of operation of payment systems in Ukraine and their registration.
The recommendations will contribute to simplifying the authorization and registration process, as well as help payment market participants to provide high-quality informational sheets. In addition, such a step will contribute to the strengthening of constructive and partnership relations between the National Bank and participants of the payment market.
You can get acquainted with the documents by following the links:
- Recommendations for filling out the information sheet on the conditions and procedure for providing financial payment services;
- Recommendations on drafting the information sheet on the conditions and procedure of the payment system (on issues of regulation of activity on the payment market).
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has approved changes to the Law on Financial Monitoring in a wording that meets international standards for combating money laundering.
The Verkhovna Rada has adopted in the second reading amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Prevention and Counteraction of Legalization (Laundering) of Proceeds from Crim, Terrorist Financing and Financing of Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction” regarding politically exposed persons.
Adoption of bill 9269-д is a condition for Ukraine's accession to the European Union and receiving financial assistance from the IMF.
According to the standards of the EU and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), when determining the status of a public figure, a period of time should not be set, after which the person should be automatically deprived of such status.
The norms of the adopted law, in addition to the cancellation of the three-year limitation for the status of a public figure, provide for the application of a risk-oriented approach when determining the scope and duration of financial monitoring measures that must be taken in relation to such figures.
At the same time, the norms of the bill provide for:
- 12 months after the dismissal of the PEP (“Politically Exposed Persons”) from the post, banks and other financial institutions must review the risk. In the event that the financial operations carried out by such a person during this time constituted a low risk, and if such a person does not bear the risk inherent in PEP, the subjects of primary financial monitoring (SPFM) are not obliged to use in-depth monitoring of business transactions on an ongoing basis relations with this person (that is, to establish sources of wealth of such a person and sources of funds for transactions);
- the obligation of the SPFM to provide the PEP client with written explanations justifying the reason for the refusal to carry out financial transactions or establish business relations within five working days.
- the obligation of the national PEP after the termination of performance of important public functions to inform the bank at its request about the performance (termination of performance) of such functions;
- establishment of fine for SPFM in the amount of up to 100,000 tax-free minimums (1.7 million UAH) for improper application of a risk-oriented approach to PEP, i.e. for abuse of strict financial monitoring in relation to PEP – assignment of an unjustified level of risk, unjustified refusal of carrying out financial transactions.
The norms of the adopted law, in addition to the cancellation of the three-year limitation for the status of a public figure, provide for the application of a risk-oriented approach when determining the scope and duration of financial monitoring measures that must be taken in relation to such figures.
The implementation of the norms of the act will have a positive impact on further decisions of international partners regarding Ukraine's application for membership in the European Union and the allocation of financial support to Ukraine.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has approved in the first reading bill No. 10016-д on tax audits.
The list of documentary planned tax audits is expanding from November 1. But the date, most likely, will still be changed.
The following payers may be included in the scheduled documentary inspections, if in 2021 they:
- had twice as much receivables than payables;
- had a level of income tax payment less than 50% by industry, and VAT less than 50% by industry;
- had an annual income of more than UAH 10 million, and the total amount of expenses was more than 75% of the amount of annual income.
Inspections are not returned for individual entrepreneurs of the first and second groups and for enterprises in occupied territories or territories where hostilities are taking place.
All inspections, which were opened by bill No. 8401 from August 2023, remain a priority.
Adoption of the bill is one of the main demands of the IMF.
The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, by Order No. 520 of September 26, 2023, has approved changes to the form of the Tax Declaration on Land Fees (land tax and/or rent for land plots of state or communal property).
The changes eliminate the need for the payer of the land fee to independently calculate the penalty, the exclusion from the tax declaration of the position regarding the conduct of cameral audit of this tax declaration by an official of the controlling body.
Thus, the following is excluded from the Tax Declaration:
- the line regarding the determination of the penalty amount;
- the note to the line regarding the procedure for calculating the amount of the penalty;
- the position “This part of the Tax Declaration is filled out by the officials of the controlling body”, which indicates the results of the inspection of the declaration by the official of the controlling body.
In addition, the text of note 1 is set out in a new version, according to which the ambiguity of the interpretation of the entire note regarding the submission of tax declarations by the number of administrative-territorial units is eliminated and, accordingly, the inconsistency of this note with note 9 is eliminated.
