Legislation Overview (February 2015)

Taxes

VAT

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine  updated the procedure rules of the Unified Register of the tax invoices by the Resolution “On amendments to the Procedure rules of the Unified Register of tax invoices” of 30.01.15, № 20.

Let us recall that since 01.02.15 all the tax invoices (hereinafter – TI) and the adjustment calculation, including those which are not given to the buyers and written on the exempt transactions, are the subject to the registration in the Unified Register of the tax invoices.

The adjustment calculations regardless of the VAT amount should also be registered in the Unified Register of TI (p.11 of 2 subdivision of XX division of the Tax Code of Ukraine, hereinafter – TCU). Before 01.02.15 the Unified Register functioned practically unchanged, but the mentioned TI could be registered voluntarily. The TI and the adjustment calculations without the limitation of VAT amount calculated according to p.2001 of TCU are registered in the Unified Register before 01.07.15.

The Procedure rules of the Unified Register of tax invoices, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated 29.12.10, № 1246, were reconciled with the requirements of p.11 of  2s. of XX d. of TCU since 01.02.15.

Thus, among the main changes are. TI, issued by the resident (VAT payer) - recipient of resident services in the territory of Ukraine, should be registered in the Unified Register by such resident.

The adjustment calculations to the TI are registered in the Unified Register by:

• the supplier – if the compensation amount is increased, or the supplier adjusts the quantitative and cost indexes (and the result of cost indexes remains the same);
• the buyer – if the compensation amount is increased. In this case, the adjustment calculations are made by the supplier.

It should be noted, that such algorithm of the registration of the adjustment calculation was provided by the p.16 of the Procedure for electronic administration of value added tax, approved by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of 16.10.14, № 569, and p.22 of the procedure of the tax invoices filling, approved by the Ministry of Finance of 22.09.14, № 957, and was applied of 01.02.15 (as it was stated in the letter of SFSU of 19.01.15, № № 1403/7/99-99-19-03-01-17).

Previously, the seller registered the adjustment calculation in the Unified Register in all cases provided for by TCU.

If the adjustment calculation was issued to TI, made before 01.02.15, and which was not the subject to the compulsory inclusion in the Unified Register because the VAT amount did not exceed UAH 10000, and now such adjustment calculation should be included in the Unified Register only after the TI registration there. In addition, the supplier should register TI within 24 hours, regardless of the date of its making (but including limitation periods under 102 Art. of TCU), as well as the adjustment calculation to it.

Accordingly, the receipt in the electronic form on the registration confirmation of TI (adjustment calculation) is sent through the telecommunication to the VAT payer, who registered it. Before, the receipt was received only be the seller, who registered it.

Also, the procedure of the electronic digital signature (hereinafter – EDS) when the making the adjustment calculation by the buyer is amended. At first, the seller (who makes the adjustment calculation) puts the EDS and sends it to the buyer, who also puts the EDS in the manner prescribed for the seller.

The State Fiscal Service of Ukraine approved the methodological recommendations by the Order “Methodological recommendations on features of clarification of the tax liabilities for corporate income tax and value added tax in the case of tax compromise” of 17.01.15, № 13.

The adjusted calculations to the tax declarations on the income tax and/or VAT over the period till 01.04.14 (with account of limitation period) should be submitted to achieve the tax compromise.

Methodological recommendations responded to a number of interesting questions. In particular:

• a separate clarifying calculation (declaration) should be submitted, it is prohibited to clarify the tax liability in the tax declaration;
• submission of the clarifying calculations in the tax compromise does not affect on the size of tax liabilities of the payer’s contractors;
• the payer adds a free- form application for a compromise and the list (description) of the clarified business transactions. If the taxpayer received a tax assessment notice, the procedure of the administrative or judicial appeal continued, so the payer reports only by the application (the clarifying calculation for such debated periods is not submitted) about the intention to achieve the tax compromise on such tax assessment notices;
• unless there are no separate forms of the clarifying calculations for the tax compromise, in the chapeau of the clarifying declaration of income tax, under the word “Clarifying” should be written “Tax compromise” and on the left should be marked, for example, “X” (the column for such mark for the electronic report is in the development process, so wait for updates);
• in the chapeau of the clarifying calculation of VAT in the column 2 should be put the mark “ПК”. A similar mark is put in the right column of the 0110 line “General”;
• not all the amount of the understated tax liabilities but only 5% of it should be noted in the relevant lines of the clarifying calculations;
• the clarifying calculations should be submitted accompanied by the annexes, if the indexes are changed there.

The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine by the Order “On amendments to certain regulatory legal acts of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine” of 23.01.15, № 13 approved a new VAT declaration.

The new VAT declaration was complimented by the terms on the tax liabilities adjustment under the article 192 of TCU in the context of tax liabilities that arose before 01.02.15 and after the date.

The information on the payment of negative VAT amount of the tax periods to 01.02.15 was distinguished in a separate section of the deck.

The procedure of issuing of TI and the adjustment calculations to it is updated by the Order of the Ministry of Finance.

The adjustment calculation was made for the errors correction, which were made when the TI preparation, not related to the change of the amount compensation of cost of goods / services. At the same time, the amended data are specified in the adjustment calculation. It is forbidden to correct errors concerning the date and TI serial number.

The supplier (seller) should register the adjustment calculation in the URTI issued before 01.02.15. Note that earlier this rule was applied to TI issued before 1 January 2015.

The State Fiscal Service of Ukraine in its letter “On Value Added Tax” of 28.01.15, № 2394/7/99-99-19-03-02-17explained how to fill a tax invoice when the services supply.

The experts report that there are two variants of filling the column 5 of the tax invoice (hereinafter – TI) regarding the transactions of the services supply:

• if the cost of service in the primary documents is defined in accounting unit, then, the appropriate symbol and code according to КСПОВО  are indicated in boxes 5.1 and 5.2.
• if the accounting unit is not defined  in primary, which confirms the services supply, then, the word “service” should be written in box 5.1 and the box 5.2 is not to be filled.

In turn, in box 6, which reflects the amount (volume) of the service supply, should be indicated:

“1” – for the full supply or for the amount received on the current account as the prepayment (advance payment) in full volume for the service;

the share of the provided  (paid) service  expressed decimally (eg. “0.5”) – with the partial service supply or for the amount of advance payment of the part of the service cost.

The supply price of the unit of goods/services excluding VAT in hryvnias with kopecks (unless otherwise provided for by the current legislation) is also defined in box 7 of the TI.

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law “On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine (regarding preparing, production and distribution of books and periodicals publications of printed media of domestic production)”. According to this Law, the supply transactions (prepayment) and the delivery of periodicals publications of printed media (excluding the publications of erotic character) of domestic production, preparing, production (including record on electronic media), distribution of books, and including the electronic content (excluding the publications of erotic character) of domestic production, students’ exercise-book, textbooks and dictionaries of  Ukrainian-foreign or foreign-Ukrainian languages of domestic production in the customs territory of Ukraine are exempt from the VAT.

The Income Tax

The State Fiscal Service of Ukraine in its letter “On reporting on corporate income tax, the payment of advance payments of this tax in 2015 and other relevant issues” of 29.01.15, № 2707/7/99-99-19-02-01-17  reported that consolidated advances for January - February 2015 should be paid separately at the location of SC and branches.

The fiscals explained that the payers, who as of 31.12.14 were at the consolidated payment of income tax, the monthly advance payments in January - February 2015, as well as last year, paid at the place of main enterprise (legal entity) and its separate units in the amount calculated, respectively, in the consolidated tax declaration for income tax and the calculation of tax liabilities on the consolidated payment of income tax for the reporting (tax) period - 2013.

In turn, since March 2015 - just at the place of main enterprise (legal entity) in an amount calculated in the tax declaration for the reporting (tax) period – 2014.

So, the branches in the calculation of the tax liabilities on the payment of advances of the consolidated income tax for 2014, which are the subject to payment in March 2015 – May 2016, are not calculated. Instead, the total amount of such advances is determined in general regarding the taxpayer – legal entity in the declaration of income tax that is submitted by the payer for 2014.

Unified Social Contribution

The State Fiscal Service of Ukraine by its letter “On unified social tax” of 29.01.15,  № 1787/5/99-99-17-03-01-16  allowed the banks not to check the conformance of the paid amount of the unified social tax before the salary, which should be paid to the employees.

At the same time, the employers are still required to pay unified social tax and to provide the payment documents on the UST payment together with the documents on the salary payment. Let us recall: under the current legislation, the banks are allowed to transfer the salary (make payments) to enterprises employees only provided that the paid amount of the UST is not less than 1/3 of the funds of accrued salary on the accounting documents.

If the unified tax is less than 1/3 of the salary amount, which is to be paid, the bank carries out a “salary” transaction provided for submittal of estimation certificate by the unified tax payer. The employer should make the last-mentioned in three copies in the form of Annex 1 to the Procedure of adoption the Accounting Documents for salaries payment by the banks (hereinafter – Procedure) and should agree with the SFSU.

The decision on not allowing the banks to check the unified tax amounts is connected with the fact that when applying the coefficient, the algorithm of the filling Annex 1to the Procedure does not work and the UST amounts, indicated in the accounting documents, can be less than 1/3 of the accrued salary.

Private Income tax

The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine by the Order “On approval of the form of the Income tax return of income amounts accrued (paid) in favor of the individuals and the amounts of tax withheld from them (form № 1DF) and the Procedure of filling and submission by the tax agents of the Income tax return of income amounts accrued (paid) in favor of the individuals and the amounts of tax withheld from them” of 13.01.15, № 4 brought the form № 1DF in line with the current legislation.

The new form 1 DF now contains two sections:

• “The income amounts accrued (paid) in favor of the individuals and the amounts of tax withheld from them” (this part is left from the previous f. 1DF);
• “The taxation of interests, lottery gains (prizes) and the war tax”. The tax agents should indicate in the new section (second) only the general amounts of accrued and paid incomes (not applicable to interests), and also the amounts of taxes withheld from them.

In addition, in the section II of f. 1DF should not be indicated the information about the individuals, to whom the incomes are charged, and the war tax, interests, lottery gains (prizes) are withheld from these incomes.

The State Fiscal Service of Ukraine in its letter “On taxation of interest on deposits” of 03.02.15, № 2123/6/99-99-17-03-02-15 reminded: from 01.01.15 the passive incomes of the individuals, including dividends on shares and / or investment certificates, which are paid by the collective investment schemes, are the subject to the income tax at 20% rate.

The above mentioned does not apply to dividends on shares and corporate rights accrued by the residents - income tax payers. They are taxed at a rate of 5%.

Let us recall that by the passive income is understood the following:

• interest on current or deposit bank account;
• interest on deposits in the credit unions;
• other interest (including discount incomes);
• interest or discount income on nominal savings (deposit) certificate;
• payment (interest), which is distributed according to the share of membership dues and fees of the credit union members.

Other taxes and duties

The State Fiscal Service of Ukraine released the list of benefits, which are valid as of 01.01.15 in the territory of Ukraine. The list of benefits can be found in:

• the directory № 73/1 of the tax benefits that are loss of budget incomes as of 01.01.2015;
• the directory № 73/2 of other tax benefits as of 01.01.2015.

Both documents, compared to their predecessors dated 01.10.14 were cardinally amended in terms of benefits on the income tax. This is primarily due to the cancellation of almost all the benefits that are gathered in the art.154 and p.p.15-21 of subsec.4 of p. XX of the Tax Code of Ukraine.

The VAT section was also amended. The lawmakers excluded basically the benefits codes, which term expired 01.01.15, and those transactions, which were excluded from beneficial tax treatment.

In addition, pay attention to the benefits of the excise tax, which codes have been also amended.

The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine by the Order “On approval of the declaration form of excise tax, the Procedure of filling and filing of the excise tax declaration” of 23.01.15 р. № 14 approved a tax declaration form of excise tax for the excise payers – business entities of retailing, who implemented  the excisable goods.

They should fill and file only the section Ґ and the Annex 6 to the declaration.

Let us recall, that excise tax payers fill and file the sections and annexes to the declaration, which they perform and under which they have tax liabilities of the excise tax payment. At that, a special note should be made in the column “A sign of submission” on the last sheet of the declaration.

The taxpayer is obliged to file a declaration for the reporting (tax) period, equal to the calendar month, every month not later than 20th of the next reporting period to the controlling authority at the place of registration of the taxpayer. The location of the goods sales point is the place of the registration of the payer - business entity, who sells the excise goods at retail.

The State Fiscal Service of Ukraine in its letter “On the charging the local taxes and duties in 2015” of 22.01.15, № 1816/7/99-99-15-03-01-17 gave the clarification regarding the fate of purchased trade patents. Therefore, they are to be returned at the place of purchase.

Let us recall, the issue arose due to the abolition of the duty for certain types of business from 01.01.15.  The refunds should be carried out on the procedures determined by the Art.43 of the Tax Code of Ukraine: it is necessary to apply with the appropriate application to the fiscal authority.

In addition, fiscals note: the business entities, who have violated the procedure for obtaining and the trade patent using during the period before 01.01.15, are liable in the manner and on the terms that have been valid before the indicated date.

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine introduced an additional import duty after the consultation with the international financial organizations. It is introduced by the Order “On the completion of consultations with international financial organizations regarding the implementation of temporary measures to stabilize the payment balance of Ukraine” of 16.02.2015, № 119-р, which has entered into force of 25.02.2015 (published in “Governmental Courier” newspaper № 35 of 25.02.2015).

The import duty is charged from the goods imported into the territory of Ukraine in the customs regime of import, regardless of the country of origin of these goods and the concluded agreements (contracts) by Ukraine on the Free Trade at the following rates:

10% -  for the goods classified in merchandise lines 1 – 24 in accordance with the Ukrainian Classification of Goods for Foreign Economic Activity (UCGFEA), which includes live animals; products of animal and vegetable products, ready food products; alcohol and soft drinks etc.

5% - for the goods classified in merchandise lines 25 – 97 in accordance with the UCGFEA. These include mineral products, chemical products, textiles and other industrial products;

10% - for goods, which are the subject to the import duty taxation in accordance with Art. 374 of the Customs Code of Ukraine. In other words, the goods imported (sent) by citizens in Ukraine and which are the subject to the taxation.

The duty is valid during 12 months. The following vitally necessary commodities are exempt from the import duty:

• oil and natural gas;
• unirradiated fuel elements (cartridges);
• electricity;
• coal;
• gasoline, fuel oil and diesel fuel;
• medical devices for haemodialysis and treatment of cancer patients on a list established by the CMU (the CMU Order “On the list of medical devices for haemodialysis and treatment of cancer patients, who are not the subject to the additional import duty taxation” of 16.02.15, № 63);
• goods, which are granted for Ukraine  by the foreign governments or international organizations within the international (intergovernmental) agreements, approved as binding by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine;
• goods indicated in p.p. 2 - 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 18 – 20 of part I of Art. 282, part I and IV of Art. 287, p.p. 11 of p.41 of sec. XXI “Final and Transitional Provisions” of the Customs Code of Ukraine.

The State Fiscal Service of Ukraine on its website explained that the reflection of the excise tax on the retail sale of excisable goods in the income and expenditure ledger was not provided by the Law. It is validated by the fact that the procedure for keeping of the income and expenditure ledger does not provide for the indication of the information of amounts of the excise tax on the retail sale of excisable goods.

Mobilization and ATO

The Security Service of Ukraine by the Order “On approval of the temporary procedure of control of the movement of people, means of transport and cargos along the contact line within Donetsk and Luhansk regions” of 22.01.15 р., № 27 approved the procedure for entry / exit of the individuals and transportation of goods to / from the ATO area.

A citizen (owner or person authorized by him/her), who intends to take or to bring cargo (goods) from /to temporarily uncontrolled territories should apply to the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine with the appropriate application at the place of registration as a taxpayer.

The application for import / export of cargo (goods) for humanitarian aid will be considered during 3 working days; for goods for industrial purposes - 10 working days and concerning other goods – up to 30 working days.

Fiscals in agreement with the Coordination Centre make decisions on permission for import / export of cargo (goods) or refusal. Permission for transfer of goods to / from temporarily uncontrolled territories is issued in four copies.

The permission original after delivery of the goods by the carrier is returned to the applicant and recorded as a form of strict accountability. The second copy is in the control point of entry / exit; the third copy is in the carrier, and the fourth – in the cargo receiver.

Besides, the list of economic entities, which are situated or whose production facilities are located in the ATO area, and goods transported by them through the dividing line for the production process, contain the annexes to the specified Order of the SSU.

In addition, this regulation defines the rules for permits issuing to the individuals for the right to enter, pass the uncontrolled territories and exit (departure) of them.

The Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine by its letter “Regarding the request for the receipt of the information in written form (in any form) about the conduction of antiterrorist operation in the territory where the employee worked” of 12.01.15, № 103/0/14-15/06 reported the following. The employee can confirm that his work book has been left in the ATO area, it is enough to send the appropriate request to the SSU. The request is to be in arbitrary form. Then, according to consideration results of appeals, the ATC headquarters of the SSU by the official letter should provide the information on the ATO conduction in the territory where the employee previously worked.

Let us recall, the employee, whose work book is in the ATO area, to be given its duplicate at the new place of work, the employer will need:

• the employee application in any form;
• the information from the headquarters of the Anti-Terrorist Center of the SSU about the ATO conduction  in the territory where the employee previously worked.

After the restoration of access to the work book of such employee, the records from the duplicate are transferred to his work book. In this case, at the first page of the duplicate should be written: “The duplicate is annulled”, then the duplicate should be certified by the stamp of the employer at the last place of job and returned to the employee.

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine regarding the improvement of military service and the social protection of citizens of Ukraine, who perform the military service during the special period” of 15.01.15, № 116-VIII. Now all the employers-legal entities (regardless of subordination and ownership) should maintain during a term to the end of this special period or  to the announcement of the decision of demobilization, but not more than one year, the official place of work (post) and the average wage not only for the mobilized but also for the employees:

• Called up for military service;
• Called up for service under the contract in the case of crisis situation that threatens the national security, announcement of the decision of mobilization and (or) the introduction of martial law.

In addition, the official place of work (post), the average wage as well as the place of studying should be maintained more than one year for the citizens of Ukraine, mobilized for the special period, and for those who are exempt from the military service due to announcement of demobilization, but continue it on the contractual basis. In this case the subordination and ownership educational institution and form of education are of no importance.

Control and Responsibility

The State Fiscal Service of Ukraine in “On the application of penal sanctions for late payment of the unified social tax amounts” of 29.01.15, № 2625/7/99-99-17-03-01-17 provided the explanations regarding this. The fiscals would apply the financial penalties in the amount of 10% of late payment of the unified social tax amounts regardless of the date of actual payment for the nonpayment (failure to transfer) or late payment (late transfer) of the unified social tax, if the violation has been committed before 31.12.14 inclusive.

The penalty should be imposed in the amount of 20% of late payment of the unified social tax amounts, if the violation has been committed from 01.01.15.

This is because the laws and regulations have no the retroactive effect over time, except in cases where they mitigate or annul the person’s responsibility.

The State Fiscal Service of Ukraine in its letter “On the application of financial sanctions” of 02.02.15, № 3222/7/99-99-21-05-17 reported that the financial sanctions would be applied to the retail traders of tobacco products, who sold them at prices higher than the maximum retail prices established by the manufacturers or importers and increased by the amount of excise tax on sales.

The penalty amount will be 100% of the cost of available tobacco products in the dealer, but not less than UAH 10 thousand.

The State Fiscal Service of Ukraine in its letter “Concerning the entry into force of the Law of Ukraine dated 28 December 2014 № 71-VIII “On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine and laws of Ukraine on the tax reform” of 29.01.15, № 2687/7/99-99-23-01-17 reminded that temporarily, till 01.07.15, the controllers were allowed to charge a tax debt at the cost of cash, that belongs to such payer and/or funds from the accounts in banks of such taxpayer without going to the court.

This is possible, if the tax debt arose as a result of non-payment of a monetary obligation, self-defined by the taxpayer in a tax return or adjusted calculation, the amount of debt didn’t exceed UAH 5 million and there were no any obligations of the State on the return to such payer of paid by him/her by mistake and/or overpaid cash obligations.

The basis for the funds charging in repayment of tax debt of the payer is the decision of the controlling authority chief. The model form of such decision is approved by the Order of Ukraine of the SFS of Ukraine of 21.01.15, № 23.

In addition, the National Bank of Ukraine by its letter of 27.01.2015, № 25-110/4833 informed the territorial division of the National Bank of Ukraine, the Operational Department, the banks of Ukraine, the Independent Association of banks of Ukraine, the Ukrainian banks Association, the Association “Ukrainian Credit and Banking Union”, the Audit Department about the obligatory and immediate implementation of collection letters (orders), initiated by the State Fiscal Service, and the special aspects of the preparation of such documents for collection.

The date of issue and number of the decision of the head of the State Fiscal Service should be indicated in “details of payment” of the requisite of such collection letter (order).  Namely, the decision, on the basis of which the collection letter (order) is issued, is not submitted to the bank.

Labour and Salary

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine by the Resolution “Some deregulation issues of economic activity” of 28.01.15, № 42 made amendments to the Resolution of the CMU “The issues of permits issuance, renewal and annulment of permit for the employment of foreigners and stateless persons” of 27.05.13, № 437.

The attention should be given to the following:

1. It is legislated that the permit payment is not charged:

• from the persons, concerning whom the decision on the documents processing for the resolving of the issue of granting the refugee status or a person who needs an additional protection, is made;
• in case of application for renewal of permit;

2. The permits should be issued at the actual location of the employer, not at the legal address (as it was before).

3. The list of circumstances is extended, under which the employment of foreigners and stateless persons is considered to be appropriate and reasonably sufficient. In particular, it is real, if a foreigner or stateless person:

• claims the post, which provides for the creation of copyrighted items and (or) related rights as a basic labor duty;
• claims the manager position or post of the subject of software industry, and the position name is provided by the codes 2131.2, 2132.2, 3121of  Profession Classificator;
• has a diploma of higher education from one educational institutions, related to the first hundred in one of these world rankings: Times Higher Education at corresponding profession category; Academic Ranking of World Universities, QS World University Rankings by Faculty, Webometrics  Rankings of World Universities.

4. The documents for the extension of the permit should be submitted no later than 20 days before the end of its term (it was 30 days until now).

5. The decision on the issuance (extension) or refusal should be made within 7 days from the date of registration documents (there were given 15 days previously).

6. If the employer fails to make payment for the permit within 10 working days of receipt of the decision on the permit issuance, the decision is canceled (before this time this term was 30 days).

7. There are three days (there were 10 days) from the date of accrual of funds.

8. The permit may be renewed an unlimited number of times.

9. A certified copy of the employment agreement (contract) should be submitted by the employer within 7 working days (previously - 3 days) from the date of its conclusion.

The Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine in its letter “On the indexation of wages when paying the additional payments for night work” of 09.12.14, № 285/10/136-14 indicated that the additional payment for night work influenced upon the base month of indexation provided that the position salary was to be increased.

If the employee is paid extra money for the night shifts due to the increased number of night work hours, but the salary is not increased, the base month is not to be changed in this case.

In case of the increasing of the position salary, to compare the fixed amount of the indexation sum and the amount of the salary increase, so the amount of the salary increase as the additional payment for work at night should be taken into the calculation, but it is finally calculated proceeding from conditions of the month, when such salary has been increased.

For example, if salary was increased in October, then comparing of the amount of salary increase with the amount of indexation should be carried out between salary rate of October to its increasing and October salary after its increasing.

Accounting and Reporting

The State Fiscal Service of Ukraine in its letter “On changes in the legislation concerning the use of Cash Register” of 10.02.15, № 4315/7/99-99-22-07-03-17  made a comment on the number of changes in regulations of work with the Cash Register. In particular, the attention was paid to the following points:

1. Who is required the Cash Register

From 01.01.15 the cash register should have:

• the services companies (i.e. all beauty salons, sports clubs, dry cleaners, service centers on repair of household appliances, etc., those which deal with cash);
• the business entities  that accept cash for its further transfer (including  software and hardware complexes of self-service);
• the persons who took the online-niche (sale of goods and services through a worldwide network). In addition, quietly it is shut off the air supply to the single tax payers. Thus, those who are on II group (from 01.01.16) and III group (01.07.15) should also set the cash register. The exceptions are individual-entrepreneurs, who sell goods of small retail network by means of mobile trading on the markets, and the payers of the I group of the single tax. But there is a bonus for those who equip the trade place with the cash register earlier than scheduled (from 01.01.15 to 30.06.15), - is a guarantee of protection from cash register-checks to 01.01.17.

2. Z-reports: “shells” are no longer needed

The tax officers confirmed that empty Z-reports were not printed, if the day passed without a payment transaction (sale or return of goods through the cash register).

3. The technical requirements for the cash register in 2015

The progress does not stand still. So, the state financial control reminded that all cash registers, which would be registered from 01.01.15, should create a control tape in electronic form and, accordingly, should also provide the information on the amount of payment transactions to the SFSU via electronic.

Financial Markets

The National Bank of Ukraine in its letter “On the procedure for payment of mandatory state pension insurance from the transactions of the foreign currency purchase in cash” of 04.02.15, № 29-113/6779 explained the procedure for payment of pension duty in case of purchasing of the foreign currency cash by the  individual – resident.

First, the responsibility of banks, non-bank financial institutions and the national mail service operator is to withhold and to pay the pension duty (2% of the transaction amount) when purchasing the foreign currency cash by the individual – resident. The above does not apply to the transactions of the purchasing of foreign currency cash for the credit repayment by the citizens.

Second, the pension duty is paid at the expense of the individuals who purchase the foreign currency. It is withheld from the money amount in hryvnia, which buys the foreign currency. Thus, the amount of the paid duty is required in the receipt of the currency exchange transaction.

Third, the pension duty is not paid when making a reverse exchange of unused cash in hryvnia for the foreign currency cash.

The National Bank of Ukraine in its letter “On the peculiarities of application of requirements of certain regulatory legal acts of the National Bank of Ukraine” of 29.01.15, № 29-213/5388 explained the peculiarities of the use of certain regulatory legal acts requirements in response for the request of the Independent Banks’ Association of Ukraine.

With a particular focus on the following:

On behalf of the individuals, the transfers of foreign currency outside Ukraine for current non-commercial transactions  that do not exceed the equivalent of UAH 15 000 in one business day can be exercised as of the current account of the individual as well as without its opening.

Authorized banks are obliged to limit the issuance of cash in national currency via cash departments and ATMs within the limits up to UAH 150 000 per day per customer. This requirement  does not apply to the cash for the wage payment, travel expenses (within the norms), pensions, stipends and other social and equated payments (except material aid), as well as the payment of guaranteed refund sums  to the depositors at the expense of the Deposit Guarantee Fund of the individuals.

Concerning the purchase of foreign currency by the borrowers to meet the obligations under the credit agreements, it should be taken into account: the application for purchase of foreign currency is accepted by the bank to be done during 30 days from the date of its execution, and the use of purchased foreign currency according to the intended purpose is allowed within ten working days of the date of receipt to the customer’s current account.

The National Bank of Ukraine by the NBU Board Resolution “On peculiarities of the implementation of certain foreign currency transactions” of 23.02.15, № 124 (valid from 24.02.15) adopted a number of administrative measures aimed at strengthening control over foreign exchange transactions of importers under FEA-contracts, including with the use of advance payments (prepayment). Namely:

1. The authorized banks are forbidden to buy foreign currency on behalf of the client on account of hryvnia credit funds. This limitation does not apply, if the currency is acquired by the individuals for the discharge of their obligations on the consumer credits in foreign currency.

2. The advance payments under FEA-contract of the client at the cost of more than USD 50 thousand can be implemented by the authorized bank only with the permission of the NBU and not before the third transaction day from the date of issuance of the information on such payment by the bank. The payments of the lower size than specified amount can be effected without NBU additional checking. In addition, during one transaction day within one nonresident, the resident can make not more than one payment through the authorized bank. The restriction of USD 50 thousand does not apply to the calculations implemented in the form of letters of credit confirmed by the bank that has a rating not lower than the investment class.

3. The making payments both under the import contracts of the clients and under their own transactions with a total value exceeding USD 500 thousand, the banks are allowed to carry out them only using the settlement of account by the letter of credit, confirmed by the bank, which rating is not lower than the investment class.

The other things

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law of Ukraine “On Technical Regulations and Conformity Assessment” of 15.01.15, № 124-VIII, which combined the updated principles for the development, adoption and application of technical regulations, and conformity assessment of production, which was sold or put into operation in Ukraine.

The Law obliges to finally harmonize the technical regulations with European standards.

The companies can carry out the conformity assessment of production with technical regulations on their own, unless otherwise provided by these technical regulations (as a general rule, it concerns those cases where a small risk of production). Taking into account the amendments made by the above-mentioned law to the other legal acts, it can be concluded that it is intended to reduce the influence of the state on conformity assessment procedures of production (in particular, to minimize the necessity of its certification).

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to the Civil Code of Ukraine regarding the place of opening the inheritance”. According to this Law, the place of opening the inheritance for residents and migrants from the ATO area and Crimea is the place of the first application for a heritage receiving. That is, it is not necessary, as before, to apply exactly at the last residence place of the testator.

In addition, the local government body submits an application for recognition of heritage as escheat (such, as not passed to the heirs) to the court at the location of real property (or at the location of the main part of movable property in the absence of the real). Earlier this application should be submitted to the court at the place of opening the inheritance.