The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine by letter No. 113677/124754-33-21/8.4.4 dated November 11, 2021 clarified when it is necessary to confirm the information about the beneficiaries for the first time.
On October 8, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed a law extending the deadline for submitting information on the ultimate beneficial owner (hereinafter – the UBO) until July 11, 2022.
In this regard, legal entities have a question, whether it is necessary to submit an annual confirmation of information on the UBO next year?
The regional branch of the Ministry of Justice clarified the following on its website:
- if the information was submitted in the period from July 11, 2021 to December 31, 2021, the beneficiaries should be confirmed for the first time in 2022;
- if the information was submitted after January 1, 2022, the first confirmation of beneficiaries must be submitted in 2023.
But now there is an official, which states that the process of annual confirmation of information about the UBO in accordance with the provisions of Art. 17 of the Law on Registration should begin after the completion of the procedure of updating this information, regardless of whether the information was updated in 2021 or in 2022, ie from the new calendar year – from January 1, 2023.
For example, if a legal entity is registered on July 15, the obligation to submit documents in accordance with Art. 17 of the Law on Registration, ie to confirm the relevance of information about the UBO, which must already be updated in the Unified State Register, appears from July 15, 2023.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has adopted the Law “On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2022”.
The law for 2022 stipulates:
- revenues of the State Budget of Ukraine in the amount of UAH 1,322,126,951.5 thousand, including revenues of the general fund of the State Budget of Ukraine in the amount of UAH 1,181,110,455.5 thousand and revenues of the special fund of the State Budget of Ukraine in the amount of UAH 141,016,496 thousand, in accordance with Annex No. 1 to this Law;
- expenditures of the State Budget of Ukraine in the amount of UAH 1,497,672,973.7 thousand, including expenditures of the general fund of the State Budget of Ukraine in the amount of UAH 1,344,125,089.5 thousand and expenditures of the special fund of the State Budget of Ukraine in the amount of 153,547,884, UAH 2,000;
- payment of loans to the State Budget of Ukraine in the amount of UAH 10,280,412.8 thousand, including payment of loans to the general fund of the State Budget of Ukraine in the amount of UAH 9,777,642 thousand and payment of loans to the special fund of the State Budget of Ukraine in the amount UAH 502,770.8 thousand;
- loans from the State Budget of Ukraine in the amount of UAH 23,532,535.9 thousand, including loans from the general fund of the State Budget of Ukraine in the amount of UAH 7,022,216 thousand and loans from the special fund of the State Budget of Ukraine in the amount UAH 16,510,319.9 thousand;
- the maximum amount of the deficit of the State Budget of Ukraine in the amount of UAH 188,798,145.3 thousand, including the maximum amount of the deficit of the general fund of the State Budget of Ukraine in the amount of UAH 160,259,208 thousand and the maximum amount of the deficit of the special fund of the State Budget of Ukraine UAH 28,538,937.3 thousand, according to Annex No. 2 to this Law;
- working capital balance of the State Budget of Ukraine in the amount of up to 2% of expenditures of the general fund of the State Budget of Ukraine, defined by this article.
As of December 31, 2022, the law sets the maximum amount of public debt in the amount of UAH 2,725,325,400.9 thousand.
The law sets the minimum salary in 2022:
- in the monthly amount: from January 1 – UAH 6,500, from October 1 – UAH 6,700;
- in the hourly amount: from January 1 –- UAH 39.26, from October 1 – UAH 40.46.
In 2022, the law sets a living minimum per person per month in the amount of UAH 2,393 from January 1, UAH 2,508 from July 1, UAH 2,589 from December 1, and for the main social and demographic groups:
- children under the age of 6: from January 1 – UAH 2,100, from July 1 – UAH 2,201, from December 1 – UAH 2,272;
- children aged 6 to 18: from January 1 – UAH 2,618, from July 1 – UAH 2,744, from December 1 – UAH 2,833;
- able-bodied persons: from January 1 – UAH 2,481, from July 1 – UAH 2,600, from December 1 – UAH 2,684;
- persons who lost their ability to work: from January 1 – UAH 1,934, from July 1 – UAH 2,027, from December 1 – UAH 2,093.
The law stipulates that in 2022 the National Bank of Ukraine will transfer funds to the State Budget of Ukraine after confirmation by the external audit and approval by the Board of the National Bank of Ukraine of annual financial statements and formation of provisions by the National Bank of Ukraine in the total amount of not less than UAH 13,581,000 thousand.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has introduced self-isolation for travelers from countries where Omicron variant is spread. From December 3, Ukraine will introduce mandatory self-isolation for people who have returned from countries where a new variant of coronavirus, named Omicron, is spreading rapidly. Relevant changes were made to Resolution No. 1236 during the sitting of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on December 1.
These are the Republic of South Africa, the Republic of Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, the Kingdom of Lesotho, the Kingdom of Eswatini, the Republic of Mozambique and the Republic of Malawi.
Now people who have been in these countries for more than seven days in the last two weeks will have to go into self-isolation. Duration of self-isolation is 14 days.
It is important that self-isolation applies to citizens of Ukraine, foreigners and stateless persons who permanently or temporarily reside in Ukraine, are spouses or children of citizens of Ukraine returning to Ukraine from the territory of the above countries.
Vaccination, a negative test or a certificate of recovery are not grounds for non-isolation or early termination.
Foreigners and stateless persons who do not permanently or temporarily reside in Ukraine and have been in the territory of these states for more than seven days during the last 14 days are prohibited from entering at all.
Exceptions are foreigners and stateless persons who permanently or temporarily reside in Ukraine, are spouses or children of citizens of Ukraine, employees of foreign diplomatic missions and consular posts, missions of international organizations accredited in Ukraine, and members of their families, and other categories of foreigners and stateless persons in agreement with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The purpose of the decision is to avoid the spread of a new and not yet sufficiently studied variant Omicron in Ukraine.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has previously urged Ukrainians to refrain from traveling to countries where this COVID-19 variant has already been identified.
It will be recalled that Ukrainians currently in certain countries must comply with all anti-epidemic requirements and immediately contact local medical institutions in case of symptoms.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has prepared amendments to the Labor Code of Ukraine (hereinafter – the Labor Code) regarding women’s labor. The government supported a bill to improve the legal regulation and prohibit discrimination against working women during pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding. The relevant decision was made at the regular meeting on December 2.
The current labor legislation contains a number of outdated norms that do not correspond to modern economic realities and limit women’s labor rights. At the same time, it is important to strengthen the system of social and labor guarantees for the most vulnerable categories of women – pregnant women, women who have recently given birth and who care for infants.
Thus, the bill proposes:
- prohibit, at the legislative level, discrimination in employment on the grounds of pregnancy;
- abolish a number of restrictions on women’s work, which will ensure their full realization of the right to work weekends, holidays and non-working days, business trips, etc.);
- provide guarantees to women for the period of medical examinations conducted in connection with pregnancy (in particular, the pregnant woman will be dismissed for the period of medical examinations conducted in connection with pregnancy. During this period, the employee will keep the average salary);
- improve the procedure for granting maternity leave in order to prevent the reduction of the postpartum part of this leave.
The implementation of the bill will strengthen the system of guarantees of legal protection of working women during pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding, parents who combine work with family responsibilities, as well as implement a number of international labor standards in the field of maternity protection.
The State Tax Service of Ukraine has clarified the procedure for refunding funds credited to the VAT account.
In accordance with item 200. 5 of the Tax Code of Ukraine (hereinafter – the Tax Code) from the account in the system of electronic administration of value added tax (hereinafter – VAT) the funds are transferred to the state budget in the amount of VAT liabilities payable for reporting tax period, and to the current account of the taxpayer under the application, which is submitted to the supervisory authority as part of VAT reporting, in the amount exceeding the amount declared for payment to the tax liabilities budget and the amount of tax debt. In this case, the transfer of funds to the current account of the payer may be made in the absence of exceeding the amount of tax specified in tax invoices drawn up in the reporting period and registered in the Unified Register of Tax Invoices over the amount of tax liabilities for transactions of goods/services declared in the tax VAT reporting in this reporting period.
The mechanism for settlements with the budget using electronic invoices is determined by the Procedure for electronic administration of value added tax, approved by Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 569 of October 16, 2014.
Pursuant to item 21 of Procedure No. 569, if on the date of filing the tax return the amount of funds on the payer’s electronic account exceeds the amount to be transferred to the budget in accordance with the submitted reports, the payer has the right to submit a statement to the supervisory authority which specifies that such funds are subject to transfer to the payer’s current account, the details of which are indicated in the application, in the amount of the balance of funds exceeding the amount of tax debt and the amount of agreed tax liabilities, or to the budget to pay tax arrears starting from July 1, 2015.
The amount of tax determined in accordance with item 9 of Procedure No. 569 is reduced by the amount of tax, which according to the application is subject to transfer to the budget to repay the tax debt arising from July 1, 2015 or to the current account of the payer its submission by reducing the total amount of electronic account replenishment (Σ ПопРах). Funds may be transferred to the payer’s current account if such reduction of the total amount of electronic account replenishment (Σ ПопРах) does not lead to the formation of a negative value of the tax amount determined in accordance with item 9 of Procedure No. 569 (Σ Накл).
For the appropriate transfer of funds, the State Tax Service sends to the State Treasury Service a register indicating the name of the taxpayer, tax number and individual tax number, the amount of tax to be transferred to the budget or current account of the taxpayer, and details of such account (if the taxpayer submit the application for the refund to the current account).
The Treasury must make a corresponding transfer on the basis of the said register within five working days after the expiration of the deadline established by the Tax Code for payment by the taxpayer of the amounts of tax liabilities.
According to paragraph 4 item 10 of chap. III of the Procedure for filling in and submitting tax returns on value added tax, approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine No. 21 of January 28, 2016, registered in the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine under No. 159/28289 on January 29, 2016, for transfer to the budget/ current account of excess credited funds the taxpayer must fill in to Annex 4 the VAT return “Applications for refund of the amount of budget reimbursement and/or the amount of funds on the account in the electronic administration of value added tax and/or taking into account the registration amount of the reorganized taxpayer calculating the registration amount of the successor (D4)”.
The State Tax Service of Ukraine in a letter No. 3393/ІПК/99-00-21-03-02-06 dated September 9, 2021 “On the peculiarities of determining the VAT tax base of transactions for the export of goods outside the customs territory of Ukraine” explained the peculiarities of VAT taxation on export transportation services.
Thus, if the company shipped its own products outside the customs territory of Ukraine, the cost of transport company services paid for its export was included in a separate line in the invoice and specifications provided to the customs authority when the customs declaration for export was prepared.
How is VAT taxation of product delivery services to the buyer performed in this case?
The tax authorities stressed in the letter that the cost of delivery services to the buyer is not included in the total cost of exported products. If such delivery is carried out under a single international transport document, it is subject to VAT in accordance with paragraph ‘a’ subitem 195.1.3 of the Tax Code, ie at a zero VAT rate.
At the same time, in the case of involvement in the international transportation of carriers, the zero rate determined by paragraph ‘a’ subitem 195.1.3 of the Tax Code, is used by such carriers.
Similar explanations are provided in the General Tax Consultation on the procedure for VAT taxation of freight forwarding activities, approved by Order of the State Tax Service of Ukraine No. 610 of July 6, 2012.
