The Ukrainian Restaurant Association welcomes bill No. 5590 on amendments to the Tax Code to reduce the value added tax rate for the restaurant industry and catering services from 20% to 7%.
According to the association, about 63% of the restaurateurs surveyed by it expect business development due to the VAT reduction, and 19% of respondents intend to reorganize into an LLC if such an amendment to the code is adopted.
“Catering establishments often use the individual entrepreneur system for selling food and the LLC system for selling alcohol. This creates a number of difficulties for the restaurateurs themselves – the impossibility of maintaining civilized transparent relations with banks in terms of obtaining loans, limiting cashless payments with retail chains, the complexity of administering the tax payment process,” President of the Ukrainian Restaurant Association Serhiy Trakhachev said.
“Today there is a huge demand from the industry itself for the transition to a civilized and transparent form of existence. But this request is limited by a significant tax burden, in particular the need to pay VAT at the standard level of 20%,” he said.
So, the adoption of the amendments will allow increasing working capital in the restaurant sector and save jobs. According to the association, due to the coronavirus pandemic and quarantine restrictions, the volume of the restaurant market in Ukraine in 2020 decreased by a third and amounted to UAH 14.1 billion, almost all market players reduced their revenue.
Smart Energy plans to invest $ 400 million in hydrocarbon production by 2031, CEO of the group of companies Serhiy Hlazunov has told reporters, presenting the results of ten years of activity in the market.
According to him, the total volume of Smart Energy investments in production for 2011-2020 amounted to UAH 3.5 billion, in particular, in 2019 – UAH 687 million, in 2020 – UAH 541 million.
The total amount of taxes paid for this period exceeded UAH 7.6 billion, in particular, in 2019 – UAH 1.291 billion, in 2020 – UAH 947 million.
Hlazunov said that in the next ten years, the group plans to drill over 30 new wells, while in the previous ten years, 13 wells were drilled. The existing Smart Energy park currently consists of 29 wells.
As reported, Smart Energy in 2020 increased natural gas production by 8.6% (by 31.8 million cubic meters) compared to 2019, to 400.6 million cubic meters, gas condensate – by 4.8% (by 1,600 tonnes), to 34,700 tonnes, and production of liquefied propane-butane – by 9.5% (by 800 tonnes), to 9,200 tonnes.
Smart Energy is a management company, part of Vadim Novinsky’s Smart-Holding Group, which implements projects in the field of hydrocarbon production and alternative energy. The group’s oil and gas business is represented in Poltava and Kharkiv regions by PrJSC Ukrgazvydobutok, the British public company Enwell Energy with assets in Poltava region, Prom-Energo Product LLC and Arkona Gas-Energy LLC.
The government has proposed that the Verkhovna Rada approves methods for calculating minimum tax applicability for land plots under cultivation being in so-called “domestic offshore,” for which taxes are not paid.
The formula for calculating the size of the tax is included in the so-called resource bill No. 5600 with amendments to the Tax Code on ensuring balanced budget receipts. The document was registered in parliament.
The document proposes to supplement Article 381 of the Tax Code with a formula according to which minimum tax applicability depends on the general standard pecuniary value of the land plot and the period during which the land plot was owned by the business entity.
The formula looks like this:
MTA = SPV × A × F × M / 12
Where:
MTA – minimum tax applicability;
SPV – standard pecuniary value of 1 hectare of a land plot;
A is the area of the land plot in hectares;
M is the number of calendar months during which the land plot was owned, leased or used on other terms by the taxpayer;
F – factor equal to 0.05.
According to the document, for a land plot that has not been evaluated it will be assessed as 1 hectare of arable land in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea or in the region, taking into account the indexation factor determined by the Code in the prescribed manner.
For sole proprietors, fourth group payers under the simplified tax system, the factor will be 0.025.
According to the bill, the minimum tax applicability is determined for allotments (allotments for construction); allotment cooperatives (societies) for vegetable growing and gardening; reserve lands; unclaimed plots at the disposal of local governments; sites exposed to radioactive contamination after the Chornobyl disaster in the exclusion zones.
“If an individual owns or uses one or more land plots, the total size of which does not exceed the size specified in Subparagraph 24 of Paragraph 1 of Article 165 of this Code, the minimum tax applicability for these land plots is not determined,” the authors of the bill said in the promulgated document.
When transferring to lease and sublease, inheritance or other use of land, the minimum tax applicability is determined for tenants and users in the manner prescribed in the Tax Code.
PrJSC Insurance company Alfa Insurance (Kyiv) in January-March of this year collected UAH 355.6 million of gross premiums, which is 22.99% more than in the first quarter a year earlier, the Standard-Rating agency said in the information on the confirmation of the company’s financial strength rating at the level of “uaAA+” on the national scale based on the results of work for the first quarter of 2021.
According to the press release, receipts from individuals for the reporting period increased by 32.58%, to UAH 223.622 million, and from reinsurers – by UAH 591,000, to UAH 666,000. Thus, individuals continue to dominate in the insurer’s client portfolio, as evidenced by their share in gross premiums of 62.88%.
Insurance premiums sent to reinsurers in the first quarter of 2021 more than doubled compared to the same period in 2020, to UAH 2.634 million. As a result, the coefficient of participation of reinsurers in insurance premiums increased by 0.30 percentage points, to 0.74%.
Net premiums collected by the company in January-March increased by 22.62%, to UAH 352.985 million, and earned – by 15.95%, to UAH 308.261 million.
In the first quarter, the company made payments and reimbursements to its policyholders in the amount of UAH 96.590 million (more by 20.78%). Taking into account the outstripping growth rates of gross premiums over insurance payments and compensation, the level of payments decreased by 0.50 p.p., to 27.16%.
The financial result from the operating activities of Alfa Insurance amounted to UAH 2.4 million, and the company’s net profit – UAH 2.309 million.
The insurer’s assets increased by 3.53%, to UAH 785.212 million, equity capital increased by 0.76%, to UAH 307.928 million, liabilities increased by 5.41%, to UAH 477.284 million, cash and cash equivalents decreased by 14.46%, to UAH 367.217 million.
At the same time, the rating agency notes that as of April 1, 2021, the insurer formed a portfolio of government bonds in the amount of UAH 177.559 million, which had a positive effect on its provision with liquid assets, which covered 114.14% of liabilities.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky announced the need to complete the construction of about 1,000 facilities under the Big Construction national program during 2021-2022.
“About 1,000 objects of the Big Construction project for 2021 and projects planned for the next years must be completed, reconstructed and put into operation. Preferably on time,” Zelensky said at a meeting of the Chamber of Local Authorities of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Ukraine in Khmelnytsky on Thursday.
According to the head of state, close interaction of the central and regional authorities is crucial for this.
The international vertically integrated pipe and wheel company Interpipe in January-March of this year reduced its net profit by 90.4% compared to the same period last year, to $ 12.826 million from $ 133.064 million.
According to the company’s interim report on operating and financial results for the three months of 2021, in January-March 2021 revenue decreased by 19.9%, to $ 200.952 million.
According to the company’s press release, following the results of Q1, 2021, EBITDA decreased by 53%, to $ 40 million, the amount of capital investments increased by 58%, to $ 17 million.
Net debt was $ 53 million with a net leverage ratio (net debt to EBITDA) of 0.2x.
The press release notes that in the first quarter of 2021 Interpipe continued to operate in difficult market conditions, which affected its financial results. Total revenues decreased by 20%, mainly due to the deterioration in the performance of the railway division after the imposition by Russia of embargo on the import of Ukrainian railway products. Thus, the revenues of the railway products division fell by 53%, while sales volumes decreased by 32%.
As a result, EBITDA for the first quarter of 2021 decreased by 53%. An additional negative effect is associated with the continuing global growth in market prices for goods and metal products. At the same time, the selling prices for steel pipes and railway products lagged behind the rise in production costs.
At the same time, Interpipe increased its capital investment by investing $ 17 million in overhaul and production development.
As of March 31, 2021, the company’s total debt fell to $ 110 million following the full redemption of 2024 eurobonds on January 26, 2021, keeping the net leverage ratio (net debt to EBITDA) at a low 0.2x.
