The State Labor Office of Ukraine has clarified whether the employer has the right to require workers to be present at the workplace during quarantine and to refuse to grant leave.
At present, forced restriction of work is introduced only for certain categories of enterprises (catering establishments, cinemas, shopping centers, subways, etc.). Other employers have the right to mandate work from home, but may require employees to be present at the workplace.
Annual paid leave is provided by the employer on the agreed annual leave schedule. The employer has the right to refuse to provide it outside the schedule, except for certain categories of workers who are entitled to annual paid leave at a convenient time for them (persons with disabilities, women with two or more children under 15 years, single mothers, participants of JFO, etc.).
Unpaid leave (of any duration in quarantine) is provided at the request of the employee and with the consent of the employer. In some cases, the employer is obliged to provide the employee with unpaid leave (mother or other person to care for a child under 14 – for quarantine period; single mother or father - for 14 days; persons with disabilities – up to 60 days).
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to comply with the requirements of the Law of Ukraine “On amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine aimed at providing additional social and economic guarantees in connection with the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19)” No. 540-IX of March 30, 2020, improved the provisions of separate legal acts concerning the import to Ukraine and/or putting into circulation of certain anti-epidemic and medical goods, import and/or supply of which are exempt from taxation.
The Cabinet plans to amend six regulations, according to which:
- the list of goods and equipment which, when imported into Ukraine and manufactured in the territory of Ukraine, are exempt from value added tax (hereinafter – VAT) has been expanded;
- it is allowed to confirm compliance with the technical regulations of medical devices, equipment and personal protective equipment, both according to standard and available documents (declaration of conformity), and by receiving confirmation letters from the Ministry of Health and the State Labor Office;
- some items of the list of anti-epidemic products that are not allowed for export by the citizens are supplemented with additional codes according to UKT FEA;
- criteria for the classification of goods as anti-epidemic products for the purpose of prohibition of exportation by Ukrainian citizens have been defined;
- unambiguous grounds for attributing medical devices and medical equipment to those exempt from import duties and VAT have been identified.
The new rules enable:
- acceleration of customs clearance of imported personal protective equipment and medical devices;
- improvement of control over the prevention of anti-epidemic goods being exported by Ukrainian citizens;
- expansion of the list of medicines and medical devices that will be exempt from import duties and VAT at the time of import and/or delivery.
The State Fiscal Service of Ukraine through the Office of Large Taxpayers has informed that in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On amendments to some legislative acts of Ukraine aimed at providing additional social and economic guarantees in connection with the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-2019)” No. 540-IX of March 30, 2020 extends the maturity period of tax anticipation bills for fuel manufacturers or importers.
Maturity period of tax anticipation bills issued in accordance with item 229.8 of the Tax Code of Ukraine (hereinafter – Tax Code) for manufacturers or importers of jet fuel (codes according to UKT FEA 2710 12 70 00, 2710 19 21 00) and/or aviation gasoline (code according to from UKT FEA 2710 12 31 00), which is for the period from March 1, 2020 to May 31, 2020, continues to August 15, 2020 (inclusive).
In the case of confirmation up to August 15, 2020 (inclusive) by the importer or the manufacturer who issued the tax bill of the fact of the intended use of aviation gasoline or jet fuel, the payment of such tax anticipation bills must be carried out in accordance with the procedure stipulated in item 229.8 of the Tax Code:
- without payment of the amounts of excise tax indicated in such tax anticipation bills;
- without the application of the penalties set out in subitem 229.8.12 of the Tax Code.
If the tax anticipation bill is not repaid by August 15, 2020 (inclusive), the bill-holder, within five working days following the determined last day of the maturity period, protests such tax anticipation bill in default according to the law and within one working day from the date of protest appeals to the bank that made the bill avalization, with a protested tax bill. The avalizing bank is obliged to transfer the amount specified in the tax bill to the bill-holder no later than the business day, which comes after the date of the bill holder's appeal with the protested tax bill.
In the absence of confirmation until August 15, 2020 (inclusive) the intended use by the importer or manufacturer who issued the tax bill, of aviation gasoline or jet fuel, such importer or manufacturer is subject to fine of 50% of the amount of excise tax, calculated on the basis of volumes of aviation gasoline or jet fuel for which there is no confirmation of the intended use, and the excise tax rate set by the subitem 215.3.4 of the Tax Code applying increasing factor 10.
The State Tax Service of Ukraine in individual tax consultation “On timely registration of tax invoices in case of arrest of the registration amount in the electronic VAT administration system based on court rulling” No. 1218/6/99-00-07-03-02-06/ІПК of March 24, 2020, explained that late registration of tax invoices in case of arrest of the registration amount in the electronic VAT administration system on the basis of court rulings will still be fined.
Thus, according to item 1201 of the Tax Code, the violation of the deadline for registration of the tax invoice/ adjustment calculation in the Unified register of tax invoices (hereinafter – URTI) leads to the imposition on the VAT payer, which in accordance with the requirements of Art. 192 and 201 of the VAT is obliged to do such registration, a fine of the appropriate amount. However, this does not apply to a tax invoice that is not provided to the recipient (buyer) for the supply of goods/services for transactions: which are exempt or taxed at zero rate.
At the same time, the Tax Code provides no exceptions to the application of such fine in connection with the arrest of a registration amount under the court ruling.
It should be recalled that from March 1 until May 31, 2020, late registration of tax invoices is not subject to fine.
The State Tax Service of Ukraine in individual tax consultation “On the necessary to calculate VAT obligations in the case of operations for temporary suspension of operation of production equipment due to absence of orders for production of certain type of products” No. 1195/6/99-00-07-03-02-06/ІПК of March 23, 2020, has clarified if there will be VAT consequences in case of temporary suspension of production equipment operation due to lack of orders for production of products.
According to the controllers, in this case the production equipment is not used in the operations listed in item 198.5 of the Tax Code. As before, such equipment continues to be in the status of intended for use in VAT taxable transactions within the taxpayer's business activities. Therefore, there is no need to accrue compensatory VAT liabilities.
