Ukrainian hotels are not obliged to collect tourism fee from their clients until local authorities make a decision to approve the fee rates, Deputy Director of the Tax and Duties Department of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine Stanislav Beskydevych has said. “The tourist fee is a local tax and is charged in accordance with the requirements of the Tax Code, but taking into account the decisions of local governments that implement the mandatory elements of the tax,” Beskydevych said at a roundtable in the parliamentary committee on family issues, youth policy, sports and tourism.
He recalled that the travel tax is charged in accordance with Article 268 of the Tax Code, which was amended at the end of 2018. In particular, the tax base has been changed, tax rates have been differentiated depending on the consumer category, and the possibility of an advance payment of the tax has been introduced.
At the same time, the taxman said that in order to implement the law, local authorities should set rates, determine the possibility of an advance payment or the absence of this possibility.
“While local councils have not established specific elements of the tax rate, in fact this tax is not paid, it is zero. We cannot collect tax without a decision of local councils,” Beskydevych said.
According to him, for its part, the State Fiscal Service must publish a modified form of tax declaration, which will be submitted in the first quarter of 2019.
“Today we have already developed draft changes. They are undergoing internal coordination. In the near future, they will be presented for public discussion, after which they will be sent to local self-government agencies,” Beskydevych said.
