The Verkhovna Radaof Ukraine adopted the Law 'On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine concerning improvement of transfer pricing' № 4527 (hereinafter - the Law), which established that the first report of controlled operations for the period from 1 September to 31 December 2013 will be submitted to 01.10.2014.
In addition, by the Law are provided:
- non-application of penalties due to the self-adjustment of monetary liabilities which are connected to price changes in the controlled transactions over this period;
- reduction of penalties amount for failure to report up to 100 minimum wages, which are established on 1 January of the reported year, i.e. 121800 UAH;
- approximation of the terms 'operations' and 'business operations' to use them identically.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law 'On Amendments into Certain Legislative acts of Ukraine (concerning the protection of investors' rights)' (draft law № 4586).
Provided for by the Law disambiguation and differences in interpretation of possibilities for immediate termination or temporary suspension of authority of the executive department of the joint- stock -company.
The amended are made to the liability of the members of the Supervisory Board of the joint- stock -company, as well as officials of any economic society in general. Particularly, it is provided that liability of the officials is determined by the law and the responsibility for damage compensation that makes avoiding or decreasing the liability of officials by incorporating the relevant provisions in the constituent documents, domestic regulations or agreements is impossible.
The Ministry of Revenue and Duties of Ukraine reminded in the letter of 04.04.2014, № 6237/5/99-99-19-03-02-16 the Order of penalties application to tax agents for violation of the charging, withholding and/or payment (transfer) of personal income tax before or during the income payment of taxpayers. The indicated violation has statutory penalties - 25% of tax amount which is liable for charging and/or payment to the budget. In case of repeated violation during 1095 days the penalty is from 50% to 75% of tax amount which is liable for charging and/or payment to the budget. The tax agent is responsible for repayment of tax liability or tax debt. The indicated penalties are not applied if the tax agent revealed non-charging, withhold and / or non-payment (non-transfer) of personal income tax during recalculation independently and amended them in the next tax period during taxable (report) year.
The Ministry of Revenue and Duties of Ukraine explained in the letter of 04.04.2014, № 6237/5/99-99-19-03-02-16 how taxpayer could independently determine the validity of the right of use an intangible asset.
Validity of the right of use intangible asset is determined in accordance with the title documents. It should be considered the minimum period of validity for the right of use, defined for intangible assets of 4 and 5 groups. If this period is not set in the title documents, the taxpayer determines it independently. It is important that the period could not be less than 2 and more than 10 years of continuous operation in this case. If the term is not defined, the procedure for determining validity of the right of use intangible asset is applied from 01.01.2014 according to the Law of Ukraine of 24.10.2013, № 657-VII.
Taking this into consideration, if the validity of the right of use intangible assets in the title documents is not provided and defined by the payer independently, the establishment of useful life which should not be less than two or more than ten years of continuous operation taking into account the date of commissioning concerns those intangible assets that were commissioned from 01.01.2014.
The National Bank of Ukraine by its Decree of 06.05.2014, № 260 temporarily suspended the activities of Ukrainian banks in Crimea; banks are prohibited to operate in AR Crimea until Russia finishes the occupation.
The Board of the National Bank had to make a decision in May 6, 2014 (temporarily until the end of the occupation) to stop further activities Ukrainian banking institutions and their subdivisions in the territory of Crimea.
According to the Law of Ukraine 'On the rights and freedoms of citizens and legal regime of the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine' in the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol city is valid Ukrainian legislation which is mandatory for public authorities and local government business entities, institutions and organizations.
Occupation of the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol city violated the banking system in the region and caused a threat to the interests of depositors and other creditors.
The continued functioning of banks under occupation is a violation of Ukrainian legislation due to the inability of banks and their separate subdivisions to meet requirements of Ukrainian legislation, legal acts of the National Bank. Taking this into consideration a lot of banking institutions actually have been already forced to suspend or cease operations.
The National Bank of Ukraine in its letter of 12.05.2014, № 25-111/22430 recommends banks to repay outstanding payment to transfer funds in Crimea.
Due to numerous customers complaining to banks concerning non-remit money to their accounts opened in banks in Crimea, the National Bank recommends the following:
- to return outstanding payments to the clients in the established order;
- to settle issues related to withholding commissions for services to transfer funds that were not provided by the bank.
The National Bank of Ukraine in the letter of 07.02.2014, № 25-109/5294 explained the nuances of the use of electronic money. The explanation includes five points which mean the following.
1. Electronic money is not the currency values or cash but it is substitute for banknotes and coins and monetary obligation of the issuer. Not only National Bank can issue them but other banks too. As a means of making payments electronic money is received by limited circle of people provided the issuer in exchange for cash in cash or cashless form.
2. The Bank has the right to create e-wallets for users if their opening provided by the rules of electronic money, agreed with the NBU.
3. If the operator signed a contract with a bank, the electronic money is considered issued since it is loaded to an electronic device of user or agent by operator. The device could be located in the user/agent as well as in the operator room depending on the used technology.
4. Issuing banks are liable according to Art. 163-14 of the Administrative Code for Violating the order of the transactions with electronic money. Also the National Bank might apply special sanctions to these banks.
5. Identifying the activities of payment services with the services of payment infrastructure according to the Law of Ukraine 'On Payment Systems and Funds Transfer in Ukraine' the National Bank has said that these activities could be carried out only after agreement of conditions, order of activities and registration.
