The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has adopted the resolution ‘On Amendments to Certain Resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Regarding the Provision of Financial State Support to Business Entities’ in order to optimize the state programs Affordable Loans 5-7-9% and Affordable Financial Leasing 5-7-9 % in the conditions of martial law.
With the amendments to the Procedure for providing financial state support to business entities and the Procedure for providing financial state support to business entities under financial leasing contracts, approved by Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Resolution No. 28 of January 24, 2020, the provision of state financial support to businesses, in particular to agricultural producers, who received loans within the framework of the sowing campaign in 2022, has been extended. Namely: the period during which agricultural commodity producers will have the opportunity to receive financial support for the sowing campaign has been extended, including with the possibility of extending the issued loans for the implementation of sowing works, provided that representatives of large and medium-sized agriculture business repay up to 25% of the received loan and the possibility of providing state guarantees for ensuring partial fulfillment of debt obligations under such loans.
The state program Affordable loans 5-7-9% provides for:
- establishing a compensation rate for loans for investment purposes of 9% per annum for medium and large enterprises, with the possibility of reducing it to 7% per annum if new jobs are created;
- establishing a compensation rate for loans for investment purposes for micro and small enterprises at the level of 7% per annum with the possibility of reduction for investment loans to 5%;
- establishing a compensation rate of 9% per annum for loans to replenish working capital for all enterprises.
The state program Affordable Financial Leasing 5-7-9% provides for:
- establishing a compensation fee for medium and large enterprises of 11% per annum with the possibility of reduction to 9% per annum if new jobs are created;
- establishing a compensation fee for micro and small enterprises of 9% per annum, with the possibility of reducing it to 7% per annum if new jobs are created.
In addition, the resolution also:
- cancels compensation rates for loans and compensation fee for leasing at the level of 0% per annum;
- excludes financing for the purpose of preventing and overcoming the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular the refinancing of such loans.
This will optimize the expenses of the state budget for the financing of the mentioned programs in accordance with the challenges of the times, directing the financing to more relevant areas, to ensure continuous financing in the conditions of the growth of market interest rates for loans and the loan portfolio.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, by Resolution No. 226 of March 14, 2023, amended the Procedure for imposing fines for violations of labor and employment legislation, approved by CMU Resolution No. 509 of July 17, 2013.
The changes removed the reference to Part 2 of Art. 53 of the Law ‘On Employment of Population’ from the provisions of Order No. 509.
The removed norm provided for the application of fines for non-fulfillment by the employer of quotas for employment of certain categories of citizens within a year.
Thus, in the case of non-fulfillment by the employer of the quota for employment of citizens specified in Part 1 of Art. 14 of the Law ‘On Employment of Population’ does not provide for the collection of fines for each unjustified refusal to employ such persons within the relevant quota in the amount of twice the minimum wage.
The State Labor Service of Ukraine reminds that on October 29, 2022, Law No. 2622-IX entered into force, which provides for the reform of the employment service, social insurance in the event of unemployment and the payment of unemployment insurance compensation for employed among the unemployed. Since then, the quota mechanism for employment of certain categories of persons is no longer in effect, so employers no longer have to report on them.
In addition, in connection with the cancellation of the employment quota mechanism, Article 196 was removed from the Labor Code, as well as amendments to Art. 14 of the Law ‘On Employment of Population’. Thus, fines for non-compliance with quotas have been abolished.
The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine by the draft order of the Ministry of Finance ‘On the approval of filling in the details ‘Purpose of payment’ of the payment instruction during the payment (collection) of taxes, fees, customs, other payments, SSC, making advance payments, cash deposits, as well as in the case of their return’ (hereinafter – the draft order) developed to fulfill the requirements of the Tax and Customs Codes of Ukraine, the Law of Ukraine ‘On the collection and accounting of a single contribution to mandatory state social insurance’ and in connection with the implementation of the norms of the Law of Ukraine ‘On payment services’ decided to simplify the rules for filling out tax payments.
Currently, payers and executive authorities when filling out documents for transfer in case of payment (collection) of taxes, duties, customs payments, single contribution are guided by Order of the Ministry of Finance No. 666 of July 24, 2015 (hereinafter – Order No. 666).
Order No. 666 provides for the filling in of a significant number of mandatory fields in the ‘Purpose of payment’ details of settlement documents for the transfer of funds to budgets and trust funds, which creates a fairly high probability of erroneous entries. This complicates the automatic processing of information on the amounts of tax receipts, fees, payments and single contributions and ultimately negatively affects the quality of service for payers.
Therefore, there was an urgent need for a radical transformation of the algorithm for filling in the ‘Purpose of payment’ details of settlement documents in order to simplify it as much as possible.
The draft order was developed with the aim of minimizing the number of mandatory fields of the ‘Purpose of payment’ details of the payment instruction, which are filled out by payers and executive authorities, as well as in connection with the changes that have taken place in the payment infrastructure of Ukraine, in particular, the introduction of the international standard ISO 20022 and using the new generation SEP-4.0 electronic payment system for interbank payment operations.
The National Bank of Ukraine by Resolution No. 21of March 10, 2023 ‘On Approval of Changes to the Regulations on the Procedure for Issuing and Acquiring Payment Instruments’ changed the requirements for acquirers when performing payment transactions. This is due to the need to strengthen payment market participants' compliance with legal requirements.
Thus, in particular, acquirers and other providers of payment services (banks and non-bank financial institutions) participating in the conduct of a payment transaction were obliged to accompany it with detailed information provided for by law.
The National Bank has determined that the acquirer or other provider of payment services (bank or non-bank financial institution) during the implementation of the payment service initiated by the user in favor of the recipient through the acquirer or other provider of payment services is not the payer or recipient of the payment service.
The regulator also detailed the requirements for the documents provided to confirm transactions using payment instruments, in particular for the receipt of the payment terminal.
The National Bank expects that payment market participants' compliance with these requirements will help prevent them from:
- transfers from or to entities that, in particular, carry out unlicensed activities, activities aimed at tax evasion, etc.;
- miscoding (replacement of the trader's activity category code) during payment transactions;
- replacement of information that must accompany the payment transaction in accordance with the requirements of the law.
As a result, this will contribute to increasing the transparency of payment transactions and strengthening the level of protection of the rights of their users.
