October 18 – 23, 2021. Draft State Budget for 2022 has been approved

On October 20, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine approved in the first reading the draft Law on the State Budget of Ukraine for 2022 (draft law No. 6000).

The bill provides for the establishment in 2022 of the minimum wage:

• monthly amount: from January 1 – UAH 6,500, from October 1 – UAH 6,700;
• hourly amount: from January 1 – UAH 39.26, from October 1 – UAH 40.46.

It is proposed to establish in 2022 a living wage per person per month in the amount of UAH 2,393 from January 1, UAH 2,508 from July 1, UAH 2,589 from December 1, and for the main social and demographic groups of the population:

• children under 6 years of age: from January 1 – UAH 2,100, from July 1 – UAH 2,201, from December 1 – UAH 2,272;
• children aged 6 to 18 years: from January 1 – UAH 2,618, from July 1 – UAH 2,744, from December 1 – UAH 2,833;
• able-bodied persons: from January 1 – UAH 2,481, from July 1 – UAH 2,600, from December 1 – UAH 2,684;
• persons who lost their ability to work: from January 1 – UAH 1,934, from July 1 – UAH 2,027, from December 1 – UAH 2,093.

Based on the results of consideration of the draft law in the first reading, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine approved the conclusions and proposals to the draft Law of Ukraine on the State Budget of Ukraine for 2022 as Budget Conclusions of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

According to the conclusions and proposals, the indicators of the draft State Budget for 2022 are calculated in accordance with the main forecast macro indicators of economic and social development for 2022, provided in the approved Cabinet Resolution No. 586 of May 31, 2021 forecast for 2022-2024 and in the Declaration-2022-2024, in particular:

• the forecast of nominal GDP is UAH 5,368.7 billion (actual for 2020 is UAH 4,191.9 billion, the forecast for 2021 is UAH 4505.9 billion), its real growth is at the level of 3.8% (actual for 2020 – a decline by 4%, the forecast for 2021 – an increase by 4.6%), the consumer price index/December to December of the previous year/ – 106.2% (actual for 2020 – 105%, the forecast for 2021 – 107.3%).

The general indicators of the draft State Budget for 2022 are as follows:

• revenues – in the amount of UAH 1,267.4 billion (more than the actual for 2020 by UAH 191.4 billion, or 17.8%, and approved with changes for the current year by UAH 159.96 billion, or by 14,4%);
• expenditures – in the amount of UAH 1,441.9 billion (more than the actual for 2020 by UAH 153.8 billion, or by 11.9%, and approved with changes in the current year by UAH 96.9 billion, or by 7.2%);
• repayment of loans – in the amount of UAH 10.28 billion (more than the actual for 2020 by UAH 0.76 billion, or 8%, and approved with changes in the current year by UAH 1.7 billion, or by 19,7%);
• lending – in the amount of UAH 23.74 billion (more than the actual for 2020 by UAH 8.7 billion, or 57.9%, and approved with changes in the current year by UAH 6.1 billion, or by 34.9%);
• deficit (financing) – in the amount of UAH 188 billion (less than the actual for 2020 by UAH 29.6 billion, or 13.6%, and approved with changes in the current year by UAH 58.6 billion, or by 23.8%).

The draft Resolution was registered under No. 6000-П.

The State Labor Service of Ukraine and the State Tax Service will conduct inspections of compliance with labor legislation and employment by employers who have received permits to employ foreigners and stateless persons. Particular attention will be paid to the compliance of wages of foreign citizens to the level established by law and the deduction of a single contribution to the obligatory state social insurance.

The relevant instruction was given on October 20 by the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal at the initiative of the Ministry of Economy. The basis for such an initiative was to monitor the payment of wages of foreign workers paid by employers in 2020 and the first half of 2021. The results show that information is missing in more than 70% of the total number of individuals who have been issued permits.

In the future, such monitoring is planned to be introduced on a permanent basis. To this end, the ministry has developed a bill “On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine on the Use of Labor of Foreigners and Stateless Persons in Ukraine.”

In particular, the document proposes:

• to strengthen control over compliance with legislation in this area, including through the introduction of monitoring;
• to reduce the financial burden on employers by abolishing the obligation to provide a level of wages to a foreigner in the amount of 5 or 10 minimum wages, depending on the category;
• to increase the cost of the permit in order to protect the national labor market and direct funds to the payment of benefits for unemployed citizens;
• to provide an opportunity for foreigners studying in educational institutions of Ukraine to work, providing for the employer to obtain a permit free of charge for this category of employees;
• clearly define the list of documents submitted for obtaining or renewing permits; provide a convenient way to obtain a permit, in particular through administrative service centers;
• ensure free issuance of a duplicate permit in case of its loss or damage.

The Ministry of Health of Ukraine has published a draft order “On approval of changes to the list of professions, industries and organizations whose employees are subject to mandatory preventive vaccinations.” You can get acquainted with this project on the website of the MHU.

According to the draft, the list of professions that are subject to mandatory vaccination against COVID-19 for the period of quarantine is planned to be supplemented by the following professions:

• employees of enterprises, institutions and organizations belonging to the sphere of management of central executive bodies;
• employees of institutions and establishments providing social services, institutions for the protection of children’s rights, rehabilitation institutions;
• employees of enterprises, institutions and organizations included in the List of state-owned objects of strategic importance for the economy and security of the state, approved by Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 83 of March 4, 2015.

The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine makes changes to a number of forms of tax reporting. The State tax Service of Ukraine website publishes draft orders of the Ministry of Finance, which amend the tax reporting on local taxes and fees, namely:

• “On amendments to the form of the Tax return in tourist tax”;
• “On amendments to the form of Tax return of the fee for parking spaces for vehicles”;
• “On amendments to the form of Tax Return on transport tax”;
• “On amendments to the form of the Tax return on land fees (land tax and/or rent for land plots of state or communal property”;
• “On amendment to the form of the Tax return on real estate tax, other than land”.

The amendments were developed in pursuance of Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 180/2021 of April 29, 2021 “On the Decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine of April 15, 2021 “On measures of state regional policy to support decentralization of power” (on the application of the Codifier of administrative and territorial units and territorial communities (CATUTC), as well as to bring the form of tax returns in accordance with the Tax Code: subitem 49.18.8 (in terms of the possibility of filing a tax return for the tax (reporting) period when the liquidation or reorganization takes place, till the end of such reporting period), item 50.1 (in part of the procedure for determining the amount of the penalty).

The developer of the projects is the State Tax Service of Ukraine.

The State Tax Service of Ukraine by Order No. 883 of October 12, 2021 approved a new State Register of payment transactions recorders.

As before, the State Register of PTR consists of two main sections: Payment transactions recorders allowed for initial registration, and payment transactions recorders, the initial registration of which is prohibited.

There is also a list of PTR excluded from the State Register in 2016-2021, the use of which is not allowed.

The updated Register includes 97 PTR models allowed for initial registration.

Please note that the Classifier of PTR areas of application has been updated.

The State Tax Service informs that at the last meeting of the technical commission for maintaining the State Register of payment transactions recorders (minutes of the meeting No. 54 of September 21, 2021) it was decided to add a new area to the Classifier of areas of application of payment transactions recorders: “Organization and conduct of gambling”.

The President of Ukraine signed the Law “On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine on Improving the Provision of Public (Electronic Public) Services” No. 1767-IX, which was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on September 22, 2021.

The document amends the definition of the principle of providing electronic public service by default. In particular, the law stipulates that such a principle may not be applied to the state registration of real rights to immovable property, encumbrances on such rights; acts of civil status of citizens; legal entities, their symbols (in cases provided by law), public formations that do not have the status of a legal entity, and natural persons – entrepreneurs.

Also, this principle does not apply to the state registration of religious organizations and their structural subdivisions, all-Ukrainian trade unions, their associations, all-Ukrainian associations of employers’ organizations; separate subdivisions of foreign non-governmental organizations, representative offices, branches of foreign charitable organizations, symbols of public formations, print media and news agencies.

In addition, the principle of providing public (electronic public) service by default cannot be applied to the registration of the statutes of territorial communities, including the cities of Kyiv and Sevastopol; registration of the statutes of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and national branch academies of sciences; procedures for restoring the solvency of the debtor – a legal entity or declaring it bankrupt in order to satisfy creditors’ claims, as well as restoring the solvency of an individual, enforcement proceedings and enforcement of court decisions and decisions of other bodies (officials).

At the same time, the law stipulates that the list of cases in which the subject of providing electronic public services may provide electronic public services by default is established by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.