Taxes
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved the draft Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to the Customs Tariff of Ukraine on unification of import duty rates on certain goods”, prepared by the Ministry of Finance together with the State Customs Service in agreement with the Ministry of Economy.
The bill proposes to unify (revise) import duty rates taking into account the related WTO rates for 92 goods, which are classified according to their chemical composition, degree of processing, technical characteristics, etc., and which cannot be accurately identified at the time of customs clearance without additional laboratory tests.
As a result of unification, import duty rates on some goods will increase slightly, on others –decrease. It is also proposed to increase the level of full import duty rates to the level of new unified preferential import duty rates.
Such changes to the Customs Tariff will simplify the classification procedures and speed up the customs clearance of homogeneous goods.
Accounting and Reporting
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved the draft Law “On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Accounting and Financial Reporting in Ukraine”. The purpose of these changes is to improve the legal framework for accounting and financial reporting in accordance with the provisions of national and European legislation.
The draft law proposes:
- to introduce categories of groups of the parent company and its subsidiaries for the purposes of consolidation, presentation and disclosure of financial statements;
- to exempt small and medium-sized groups from compulsory preparation, submission and disclosure of consolidated financial statements in order to facilitate doing business;
- to improve certain rules for the submission of financial statements prepared in accordance with international financial reporting standards based on the taxonomy of financial statements in a single format;
- to supplement the list of enterprises that prepare financial statements in accordance with international financial reporting standards;
- to clarify the provisions on the disclosure of consolidated financial statements together with the audit report in order to ensure transparency and accessibility of information on the financial statements of enterprises;
- to improve the provisions on the requirements for primary documents in connection with the processing of documents using information and telecommunications systems.
The draft law proposes to establish that, depending on the nature of the business transaction and the technology of processing accounting information, additional details may be included in the primary documents.
In addition, the draft specifies that primary documents created automatically in electronic form by software of the information and communication system are used in accounting provided that the electronic signature or seal affixed to the electronic document in compliance with the legislation on electronic documents and electronic document management.
The adoption of the act will not only improve the legal framework for accounting and simplify doing business in this area, but will also promote transparency of financial reporting and a positive investment climate in Ukraine.
Control and Responsibility
The President of Ukraine signed the Law “On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine on Improving the Provision of Public (Electronic Public) Services” No. 1767-IX, which was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on September 22, 2021.
The document amends the definition of the principle of providing electronic public service by default. In particular, the law stipulates that such a principle may not be applied to the state registration of real rights to immovable property, encumbrances on such rights; acts of civil status of citizens; legal entities, their symbols (in cases provided by law), public formations that do not have the status of a legal entity, and natural persons – entrepreneurs.
Also, this principle does not apply to the state registration of religious organizations and their structural subdivisions, all-Ukrainian trade unions, their associations, all-Ukrainian associations of employers’ organizations; separate subdivisions of foreign non-governmental organizations, representative offices, branches of foreign charitable organizations, symbols of public formations, print media and news agencies.
In addition, the principle of providing public (electronic public) service by default cannot be applied to the registration of the statutes of territorial communities, including the cities of Kyiv and Sevastopol; registration of the statutes of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and national branch academies of sciences; procedures for restoring the solvency of the debtor – a legal entity or declaring it bankrupt in order to satisfy creditors’ claims, as well as restoring the solvency of an individual, enforcement proceedings and enforcement of court decisions and decisions of other bodies (officials).
At the same time, the law stipulates that the list of cases in which the subject of providing electronic public services may provide electronic public services by default is established by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.
публічні послуги за замовчуванням, встановлює Кабінет Міністрів України.
Financial Markets
The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine by Order No. 3201/5 of September 10, 2021 approved the Regulations on financial monitoring by the subjects of primary financial monitoring, state regulation and supervision of which is carried out by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine (hereinafter – the Regulations).
A similar preliminary document, approved by Order of the Ministry of Justice No. 999/5 of June 18, 2015, was declared invalid.
The provision applies to:
- law firms, law associations and lawyers who practice law individually;
- notaries;
- business entities providing legal services, taking into account the specifics of the activities of such entities, if they participate, acting on behalf of the client, in any financial transaction and/or assist the client in planning or carrying out the transaction of:
- purchase and sale of real estate or property management during the financing of housing construction;
- purchase and sale of business entities and corporate rights;
- management of funds, securities or other assets of the client;
- opening and/or managing a bank account or securities account;
- raising funds needed to create legal entities and funds, ensure their activities or manage them;
- creation, provision of activities or management of legal entities, funds, trusts or other similar legal entities;
- persons who provide services for the establishment, operation or management of legal entities, if they, in particular, provide advice to the client, participate, acting on behalf of the client, in any financial transaction and/or help the client to plan or carry out a transaction to establish, operate or manage legal entities.
The responsibility for improper organization and conduct of primary financial monitoring is borne by the head of the entity, as well as the responsible employee of the entity.
The regulation came into force on September 25, 2021.
Labor and Salaries
The State Labor Service of Ukraine and the State Tax Service will conduct inspections of compliance with labor legislation and employment by employers who have received permits to employ foreigners and stateless persons. Particular attention will be paid to the compliance of wages of foreign citizens to the level established by law and the deduction of a single contribution to the obligatory state social insurance.
The relevant instruction was given on October 20 by the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal at the initiative of the Ministry of Economy. The basis for such an initiative was to monitor the payment of wages of foreign workers paid by employers in 2020 and the first half of 2021. The results show that information is missing in more than 70% of the total number of individuals who have been issued permits.
In the future, such monitoring is planned to be introduced on a permanent basis. To this end, the ministry has developed a bill “On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine on the Use of Labor of Foreigners and Stateless Persons in Ukraine.”
In particular, the document proposes:
- to strengthen control over compliance with legislation in this area, including through the introduction of monitoring;
- to reduce the financial burden on employers by abolishing the obligation to provide a level of wages to a foreigner in the amount of 5 or 10 minimum wages, depending on the category;
- to increase the cost of the permit in order to protect the national labor market and direct funds to the payment of benefits for unemployed citizens;
- to provide an opportunity for foreigners studying in educational institutions of Ukraine to work, providing for the employer to obtain a permit free of charge for this category of employees;
- clearly define the list of documents submitted for obtaining or renewing permits; provide a convenient way to obtain a permit, in particular through administrative service centers;
- ensure free issuance of a duplicate permit in case of its loss or damage.
The Other Things
The Ministry of Health by Order “On approval of Amendments to certain regulations of the Ministry of Health” No. 2086 of September 28, 2021, amended a number of orders of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine on the electronic health care system.
The document provides for the following changes.
1. The Procedure for maintaining the Register of medical records, referral records and prescriptions in the electronic health care system, approved by Order of the Ministry of Health No. 587 of February 28, 2020. The changes determine the range of persons who, in the absence of a doctor, have the right to correct an erroneous medical record of vaccination.
2. Order of the Ministry of Health “Some questions of formation of medical conclusions on temporary incapacity for work and carrying out their check” No. 1066 of June 1, 2021 is changed. It is offered to provide opportunities:
- use in the work regulations governing the issuance of paper sick leaves (in certain cases);
- in case of detection of technical inaccuracy or unreliable information in the medical opinion, to make changes to such medical opinion not later than 7 days from the date of its formation;
- cancel the erroneous medical opinion within 7 days from the date of its formation and form a new one with the start date 7 days before the date of formation.
3. Changes were made to the Procedure for issuance (formation) of sick leaves in the Electronic Register of sick leaves, approved by Order of the Ministry of Health No. 1234 of June 17, 2021, in particular:
- the order of sending the formed list of incapacity for work to the employer is specified;
- actions of the Pension Fund of Ukraine on cancellation of the list of incapacity for work and all changes in the Electronic register of the leaves of incapacity for work connected with this list are defined on the basis of the information on modification of the medical certificate on temporary incapacity as the legal consequence of modification in the conclusion is cancellation;
- the date from which the letter of incapacity for work is considered issued has been changed;
- the mechanism of formation of the electronic list of incapacity for work in the presence of several medical conclusions of different category on the person at the same time is defined.
4. On the basis of the data of medical conclusions which make one case of temporary incapacity, form sick leaves in the order of priority of creation of medical conclusions, each of which will be created as continuation of the first and make one insurance event.
5. The possibility of issuing paper letters of incapacity for work has been extended until February 1, 2022. However, cases of their issuance are significantly limited, namely:
- extension and closing of sick leaves, which were issued before October 1, 2021;
- if the period during which the attending physician had the opportunity to make changes to the medical opinion has expired;
- occurrence of technical problems (errors) in data transfer between the E-register of e-sick leaves and the Register of e-medical conclusions.
Order No. 2086 entered into force on October 1, 2021 due to official publication.
