The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Draft Law on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on the Use of Seals by Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs - Draft Law № 4194.
The parliament by this document abolished the requirements on mandatory use of seals (regardless of their presence at the business entities) and the necessity of their use in relations with state bodies and local governments.
That is, the seal can not be an essential requisite of any document that is submitted by a business entity to a state authority or a local government body. A copy of the document submitted to the state authority or a local government body will be considered duly certified if only the signature of the authorized person of such a business entity or the personal signature of the individual entrepreneur is affixed to such a copy.
The state authority or the local government body does not have the right to demand the notarization of a copy of the document, unless such requirement is established by law.
The administrative responsibility is established for officials of the state authority or local government that require affixing a seal impression of the business entity on a copy of the document that is submitted to it.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine by its Resolution “On approval of the criteria for assessing the risk level from the implementation of tour operator activities subject to licensing and determining the frequency of the implementation of planned measures of state supervision (control) by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade” of 16.03.17, № 153 approved new criteria, under which there should be assessed the level of risk from the implementation of tour operator activities, subject to licensing. In particular, this is:
- duration of implementation of tour operator activity;
- volume of tourist services provided (the number of tourists who used the services of tour operators);
- presence of violations of licensing conditions for the implementation of tour operator activities.
The list of risk assessment criteria is significantly narrowed compared to the current one. For example, the following criteria are excluded: the composition of the founders and the organizational and legal form of the business entity; the level of qualification of the personnel of business entity that has an appropriate license; making of compulsory payments to the budget and compliance with other financial obligations.
The degree of risk (high, medium, low) affects the frequency of scheduled inspections of licensed tour operators carried out by the Ministry of Economic Development.
The State Fiscal Service of Ukraine in its letter “On the Taxation of the Share of Inheritance in the Authorized Capital of a Limited Liability Company” of 07.03.17, № 4671/6/99-99-13-02-03-15 drew attention to the situation when an individual inherited a share in the authorized capital of
LLCs, but the participants did not accept it, and instead they paid the cost of a part of the property proportional to its share in the authorized capital of the company (that is, the heir actually sells its share).
Employees of the fiscal department note that in this case it is necessary to be guided by special norms established for taxation of income received from the transaction with investment assets. In particular, the investment profit is calculated as a positive difference between the income received from the sale of the investment asset and its value determined from the amount of documented expenses for its acquisition. The inherited investment is considered to be acquired at a cost equal to the amount of state duty and income tax paid in connection with such inheritance.
The State Fiscal Service of Ukraine by its letter “On the taxation of incomes of individuals” of 09.03.17, № 3747/5/99-99-13-02-03-16 recalled that an employer withheld and paid the tax in the form of a salary, and from others incomes received in Ukraine - a tax agent (Art.171 of the Tax Code of Ukraine, hereinafter − TCU).
Answering the question about the payment of average earnings to the employee in the event of his/her recovery or the delay in the calculation when the dismissal, the representatives of the fiscal department stated that the tax agent should withhold the tax from the amount of income at the expense of the taxpayer.
Violation of the order of withholding and payment of income tax entails financial and administrative responsibility under Art.127 of TCU and Art.1634 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses.
The State Fiscal Service of Ukraine in its letters “On the withholding of the income tax of a non-resident obtained by such a non-resident in Ukraine from the sale of corporate rights to a resident-individual” of 22.02.17, № 3721/6/99-99-15-02-02-15 and “On the Withholding of Tax on non-resident’s incomes received by such a non-resident in Ukraine from the sale of immovable property to a resident – individual” of 24.02.17, № 2707/Г/99-99-15-02-02-14 state that an individual who pays income in favour of a non-resident − legal entity with a source of their origin from Ukraine is required to withhold from such income and at their expense a tax in the amount of 15%. Of course, unless otherwise provided by the provisions of the international treaty.
In the opinion of the tax authorities, according to the results of the tax (accounting) year in which the income was paid to a non-resident legal entity, such an individual should submit a declaration on the income tax and the annex of TI to it to the controlling agency at his/her location.
According to the representatives of the fiscal department, in this case the individual is not required to get registered as an independent payer of the income tax.
The State Fiscal Service of Ukraine in its letter “On the adjustment of the financial result before taxation on the amount of penalties and fines that are transferred in favor of the individual entrepreneur and the SFS bodies” of 03.03.17, № 4468/6/99-99-15-02-02-15 reported that the financial result before taxation should not be increased by the amount of penalty (financial) sanctions and penalties accrued in favor of individuals (including individuals - entrepreneurs) in accordance with civil law and civil-law contracts.
Sub-para.140.5.11 of TCU was introduced in the tax legislation since 01.01.17. According to it the profit-making companies that carry out tax adjustments under sec.III of TCU, the financial result before taxation is increased by the amount of expenses from recognized fines, penalties, penalties accrued in accordance with civil law and civil-law contracts in favor of persons who are not payers of the income tax (other than individuals) and taxpayers applying 0% rate, according to para.44 of sub-para.4 of sec. XX of TCU.
In the opinion of the representatives of the fiscal department, such a magnifying adjustment does not apply to penalties accrued in favor of entrepreneurs.
The State Fiscal Service of Ukraine by its letter “On the right to form a tax credit on a tax invoice containing errors in the code according to the UCC FEA” of 22.02.17, № 3653/6/99-99-15-03-02-15 reminds that the tax invoice with an error in the UCC FEA code does not allow the buyer to reflect a tax credit. Such a document does not provide an opportunity to identify the transaction performed. Even the provision of an application with a complaint against the seller under the rules of para.201.10 of TCU will not save the buyer’s tax credit. Only the preparation of the adjustment calculation to the tax invoice with an error can help.
During 2017, the suppliers are not subject to the penalties provided for by para. 1201.3 of TCU for errors committed in the tax invoice when specifying the code of the commodities in accordance with the UCC FEA and/or the service code according to the State Classifier of Goods and Services (para.351 of sub-sec. 2 of sec. XX of TCU).
The State Fiscal Service of Ukraine in its letter “On the taxation of personal income tax on income received from the sale of immovable property” of 07.03.17, № 3165/К/99-99-13-02-03-14 emphasizes that the income of an individual from the sale of an apartment, the ownership of which was acquired on the basis of a certificate of ownership of a share in the common property of the spouses in the event of the death of one of them, is not the subject to the income tax and the war tax, under the condition that the person selling the real estate for the first time during the year.
It is not necessary to pay the taxes and fees if the following conditions of para.172.1 of TCU are met at the same time:
- individuals sold a dwelling house, an apartment or a part of them, a room, a garden (cottage) house (including the land plot on which such objects are located, utility buildings and structures) or plots, the size of which does not exceed the norms for free transfer of land, determined by Art.121 of the Land Code of Ukraine, depending on its purpose;
- individual sold the first sale of one of these objects during the reporting calendar year;
- property which is the subject of the sales contract, was owned by individual-seller for more than three years (except for inherited property).
If at least one of the listed conditions of para.172.1 of TCU was not met, then the income of individuals from the sale of real estate should be taxed by the income tax and the war tax.
The National Bank of Ukraine by its Resolution “On Amendments to the Regulations on the Transfer of Cash and Bank Metals across the Customs Border of Ukraine” of 22.03.17, № 24 simplified the procedure for transfer of foreign currency across the customs border of Ukraine.
So, if an individual transfers a currency in excess of the equivalent of 10 000 euros, in order to determine its source of origin it will be possible to provide not only documents confirming the withdrawal of cash from accounts in banks (financial institutions), but also receipts for the implementation of a currency exchange transaction with this cash, if there was such a transaction.
Also, the regulator tripled the validity period of these supporting documents required for customs declaration of foreign currency − from 30 to 90 calendar days.
Appropriate changes were made to the Regulations on the movement of cash and precious metals across the customs border of Ukraine, approved by the NBU Board Resolution of 27.05.08, № 148.
The Social Insurance Fund for Temporary Disability (hereinafter – the SIF for TD) by its letter “On the determination of the amount of the benefit in the event that the employee has provided a certificate in the form of OK-5 or OK-7 after the provision of a certificate of incapacity for work” of 04.01.17, № 5.2-28-4 explained what to do if the employee provided a certificate confirming a six-month insurance period in the form of OK-5 or OK-7 with a delay, when the temporary disability allowance had been already accrued. In this case, the amount of benefits should be listed, even if the certificate is provided after twelve months from the day of restoration of work capacity.
It should be recalled that if the employee worked at the company less than six months before the occurrence of the insured event, he/she must confirm his/her insurance experience by providing information from the State Register of Social Insurance in the form OK-5 or OK-7. Otherwise, the allowance for temporary incapacity for work should be determined per month not higher than the minimum wage (para.4 of Art.19 of the Law of Ukraine “On Compulsory State Social Insurance” of 23.09.99, № 1105-XIV).
