According to the presidential press service, the President of Ukraine proposes to the Verkhovna Rada to adopt the Law on increasing the minimum wage to 5 thousand UAH from September 1”
“I am confident that the MPs will support the draft submitted by the President of Ukraine for raising the minimum wage to 5 thousand UAH. The second stage of this program is its increase from 2021 to 6 thousand UAH. And during 2021 there will be a third part – we will increase minimum wage to 6.5 thousand UAH”, the Head of State said.
According to the President, after the increase in the minimum wage, the incomes of public sector employees, such as teachers, doctors, social workers, will increase, as their salaries are calculated according to a single tariff grid tied to the minimum wage.
The President addressed the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada with a request to hold an extraordinary sitting of the Parliament on August 25 and called on the deputies to support the draft on increasing the minimum wage.
The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine has answered five most common questions about the application of PTR/SPTR in 2021.
What is the position of the Ministry of Finance on the optimal scope of application of payment transaction recorders (hereinafter – PTR) from 2021? Is there a vision of the Ministry of Finance on how to separate those who will never be able to reach a turnover of UAH 5 million per year, and for whom the application of PTR does not make sense from those who can potentially exceed the limits and need control/PTR?
According to the statistics of the State Tax Service of Ukraine, the majority of sole proprietors (hereinafter – SP) – payers of the single tax (84%) in 2019 declared less than UAH 1 million in income and only 1.8% of the total number of sole proprietors have income for a calendar year over 4 million UAH.
The use of PTR is not mandatory for the most massive segment of taxpayers, who are in group 1 of the simplified taxation system, as well as 2–4 groups with incomes up to UAH 1 million.
A significant increase in the thresholds for staying in various groups of the simplified taxation system that took place this year, within the implementation of the state policy of de-shadowing small and medium-sized businesses without appropriate fiscalization of cash payments will not have the desired effect, as it leaves room for abuse.
Is it necessary to enter the balances of sold non-excisable goods in the PTR from August 1, 2020, as well as the number of goods received from profitable invoices?
Item 11 of Art. 3 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Use of Payment Transactions Recorders in the Field of Trade, Catering and Services” obliges business entities that carry out settlement transactions in cash and/or non-cash form (using electronic means of payment, payment checks, tokens, etc.) in case of sale of goods (provision of services) in the field of trade, public catering and services, as well as cash acceptance operations for its further transfer to carry out settlement operations through PTR and/or through SPTR using pre-programming mode (services) (indicating the code of the product subcategory in accordance with the UKT FEA for excisable goods), prices of goods (services) and accounting for their quantity.
Therefore, all goods are subject to programming – both excise and non-excise.
When will the total fiscalization of SP be abolished?
At present, the legislation does not provide for the introduction of “total fiscalization”. Laws of Ukraine “On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On the Use of Payment Transaction Recorders in Trade, Catering and Services” and Other Laws of Ukraine on De-Shadowing Payments in Trade and Services” and “On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine on De-Shadowing Settlements in the Field of Trade and Services” provides for phased fiscalization: from January 1, 2021 the application of PTR/SPTR will be mandatory for certain categories of single taxpayers engaged in certain activities, and from April 1, 2021 – for all single tax payers of 2–4 groups. For the largest segment of taxpayers in Group 1 of the simplified taxation system, the application of PTR/SPTR remains voluntary, not mandatory.
What if you work with clients only online, you receive funds exclusively in non-cash form. How to deal with PTR and cashback?
Given that the issue needs to be clarified, the Ministry of Finance recommends consulting the tax service, and to obtain a thorough answer it is necessary to provide more detailed information on the activities carried out.
What is the position of the Ministry of Finance regarding the total fiscalization of private individuals? Position on drafts No. 3853-1 and 3853-2?
These drafts are not supported in the proposed version. They are subject to refinement.
The Ministry of Finance noted that the use of PTR/SPTR by all business entities is not only an important condition for de-shadowing the economy, legalization of actual income, paying taxes to the budget in full, but also a means to protect consumer rights. According to the Law of Ukraine “On Consumer Protection” during the sale of goods, the seller is obliged to issue the consumer a settlement document certifying the fact of purchase, indicating the date of sale, and the contractor depending on the nature and specifics of the work (service) must issue to the consumer the settlement document certifying the fact of performance of work.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has announced that as of August 13, 2020, Ukrainians are allowed to enter 42 countries with or without restrictions.
Thus, Ukrainians can visit such countries as:
- Albania;
- Antigua and Barbuda;
- Afghanistan;
- Armenia;
- Bahamas;
- Belarus;
- Bulgaria;
- Burkina Faso;
- Burundi;
- Cambodia;
- Chad;
- Comoros;
- Croatia;
- Ecuador;
- Egypt;
- Ethiopia;
- Iran;
- Iraq;
- Ireland;
- Jamaica;
- Kenya;
- Lebanon;
- Maldives;
- Mexico;
- Montenegro;
- Northern Macedonia;
- Pakistan;
- Puerto Rico;
- Saint Lucia;
- Serbia;
- Slovenia;
- Somalia;
- South Korea;
- South Sudan;
- Tanzania;
- Togo;
- Tunisia;
- Turkey;
- United Kingdom;
- UAE;
- USA;
- Zambia.
Ukrainians can check current travel information using the online map tripadvisor.mfa.gov.ua.
The National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Public Utilities has strengthened the responsibility of companies for poor service delivery to consumers.
Thus, amendments were made to the Procedure for Ensuring Quality Standards for Electricity Supply and Compensation to Consumers for Non-Compliance, which introduced new guaranteed standards and compensation for non-compliance with them:
1) five new standards have been introduced for distribution system operators (11 established requirements) and two - for electricity suppliers, in particular such as:
- issuance of the correct invoice by the electricity supplier to the consumer;
- observance of terms of rendering of services of the commercial account (replacement of the counter, check of the counter, etc.);
- the number of breaks lasting more than one hour during the previous 12 months per consumer for emergency breaks due to the fault of the company:
- less than nine breaks – for rural areas;
- less than seven – for the city;
- less than 12 – for scheduled breaks with a warning.
The standard on the number of breaks is introduced from July 1, 2021. Therefore, companies are liable to consumers for frequent power outages now, as all interruptions in the period from July 1, 2020 to July 1, 2021 (previous 12 calendar months) will be taken into account when considering consumer applications for compensation for non-compliance with this standard;
2) guaranteed standards and compensations for their non-compliance have been introduced for the transmission system operator (17 guaranteed standards);
3) the amount of compensation for non-compliance with guaranteed quality standards was increased. Compensation increases by 19 terms of guaranteed standards on average twice, mainly from 100 to 200 UAH for household consumers (and for services related to connections, in particular for the issuance of technical conditions for connection – from 200 to 600 UAH).
This approach is planned to increase the overall level of quality of electricity supply to consumers, in particular to reduce the number of interruptions in electricity supply.
The State Labor Service of Ukraine has explained what to do with the employment record book if an employee is absent from work on the day of dismissal.
In accordance with paragraph 4.1 of Instruction on the procedure for keeping employment record book, approved by the order of the Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Social Protection No. 58 of July 29, 1993 (hereinafter – Instruction No. 58), the owner or the authorized body must issue to the employee the employment record book on the day of dismissal with the record of dismissal entered in it.
According to paragraph 4.2 of Instruction No. 58, if the employee is absent from work on the day of dismissal, the employer on that day sends to the employee a mail with an indication of the need to obtain the employment record book.
It is advisable to send such a notice by registered letter “with notification” about the receipt of the letter by the employee, because in case of a labor dispute the employer will have additional proof that he/she was not guilty of delaying the issuance of a work book to the employee.
Sending the employment record book by mail with delivery to the specified address is allowed only with the written consent of the employee.
If the management has not received written consent to send the employment record book by mail, it should be guided by the provisions of paragraph 6.2 of Instruction No. 58, according to which employment records and their duplicates not received by employees at the time of dismissal are stored for two years, separate from the employment records of employees who are still employed. After this period, unclaimed employment records (their duplicates) are stored in the archive for 50 years, and after this period they can be destroyed in the prescribed manner.
