Participants of the Congress “Reform of the Public Finance System – the Way to Restore Ukraine” and business representatives have called on President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy to implement the tasks identified by leading think tanks and business associations as key priorities for this year.
According to a statement released on Friday by the Ukrainian Business Council (UBC), the key institutional reforms include the reboot of the BES and the State Customs Service with the election of the head in an open competition with the decisive vote of international partners, re-certification of employees during the year and approval of KPIs, as well as the establishment of market salaries for employees of the State Customs Service.
Another priority is the reboot of the State Tax Service on the same terms as the State Customs Service, including the creation of high-quality Public Control Councils and the introduction of an inclusive approach to the development of state policies and strategies.
“The work on the draft laws and their submission to the Verkhovna Rada should be preceded by an expert and public discussion of the relevant strategy and state policy. To improve the quality of the legislative process, it is necessary to provide for the mandatory submission of a regulatory impact analysis by all subjects of legislative initiative and the need for a certain minimum number of MPs-authors to register a draft law. Restrict the submission of alternative draft laws on the same issue to prevent legislative spam,” the statement reads.
Regarding the recovery, economic development and preservation of economic potential, the business asks to implement an optimal model of employee booking based on economic indicators, which allows for digital booking of a person liable for military service per day (e-booking), which will increase tax revenues to the budget, de-shadowing of wages and increasing the sustainability of all forms of business, including individual entrepreneurs.
In addition, the business asks to ensure an effective and transparent mechanism for business travel outside Ukraine for business trips for company executives, employees and individual entrepreneurs, as well as to implement systems to support and stimulate entrepreneurship in the areas of possible hostilities in the de-occupied communities.
Addressing the President and MPs, the business calls for preventing pressure from law enforcement agencies, as it leads to significant economic losses and disruption of state budget revenues. To this end, entrepreneurs recommend establishing the principle of presumption of innocence of the taxpayer (so that the body proves its guilt, not the taxpayer), concentrating the functions of pre-trial investigation of economic crimes exclusively in the BES, establishing personal responsibility of investigators (prosecutors and judges) for violations of the CPC and standards of prosecutors’ activities in the field of investment protection during pre-trial investigation, which have already been adopted and should become mandatory.
To reduce the pressure, the business also recommended automating the closure of criminal cases that have been “hanging” for years, providing the necessary safeguards for a quick and impartial pre-trial investigation, setting clear deadlines for pre-trial investigation in all criminal proceedings and judicial control over their observance, setting a deadline for returning seized property or lifting the arrest (10 days), and making the investigator liable for failure to comply with the court decision.
The business also proposes to introduce monthly reporting on criminal cases that have been under investigation for more than 6 months and the property seized (confiscated) in them by law enforcement agencies and to ensure the protection of the rights of participants in criminal proceedings (Draft Law No. 9211 as a basis, with amendments for the second reading).
As part of the reform of the tax system and customs legislation, the business community will ask to reduce the total tax burden on the payroll and replace the income tax with the tax on withdrawn capital after the end of martial law with the preparation of relevant legislative changes in advance, as well as to change the ideology of the SMKOR from “punitive” to analytical, to introduce a deadline for blocking tax invoices with an increase in the mandatory threshold for VAT registration.
The statement of the business associations emphasizes that it is necessary to ensure the preservation of the current simplified taxation system while minimizing its abuse, in particular: to define the criteria for distinguishing between employment and freelance by law. To do this, replace the broad fiscalization of sole proprietors of the 2nd and 3rd groups of the EH with the fiscalization of exclusively risky categories of taxpayers who are likely to reach the EH limits.
The business expects the guaranteed obligations regarding the conditions of doing business in the Diia.city tax regime to remain unchanged for 25 years and to ensure full automatic exchange of information with other countries, as well as to create an effective mechanism for automated comparison of documents on the customs value of goods.
With regard to reducing inefficient state budget expenditures, entrepreneurs are asking to review expenditures to optimize them, increase efficiency of their use, and adapt the amount of public spending to new demographic realities (this includes reducing expenditures on representative bodies of state power, the justice system, education, healthcare, and housing subsidies).
The business also expects the authorities to establish objective KPIs for all budget programs, publicly disclose budget estimates of budgetary institutions, and monitor the effectiveness of spending on government programs.
It is specified that the appeal was signed by 18 business associations, including: Association of Taxpayers of Ukraine, Association of Private Employers, IT-Ukraine Association, All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council, All-Ukrainian Professional Association of Entrepreneurs, SUP, Board, CLUB100, CEO Club, CFO Club, Kharkiv IT Cluster, Oil and Gas Association of Ukraine, CCI, Ukrainian Cluster Alliance, Ukrainian Security Industry Federation, UCAB, Ukrainian Association of Direct Sales, Ukrharchoprom.
The document was also signed by three coalitions of business associations – the USS, the Coalition of Business Communities for the Modernization of Ukraine, and the National Business Coalition.
Import of goods in 2023 in most important positions to previous 2022
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky released the declaration of the person authorized to perform the functions of the state or local government on property, income, expenses and financial obligations for 2023.
According to the President’s website, “according to the declaration, the income of the head of state and members of his family amounted to 12 million 423 thousand 008 UAH, including income from the sale of government bonds – 7 million 455 thousand 972 UAH”.
The income of Vladimir Zelensky’s family in 2023 mainly consisted of wages, bank interest and income from the provision of real estate for rent. In total, this amount amounted to UAH 4 million 967 thousand 036.
“The increase in income compared to last year was due to the resumption of rent payments. The cash balance of the head of state’s family by the end of last year decreased by almost 2 million 800 thousand UAH. There were no other significant changes in 2023 in terms of assets, real estate, vehicles, etc.,” – reports the website of the President.
The mayor of Kiev Vitali Klitschko indicated 1 million 3 thousand 636 UAH of income in the electronic declaration of property and income for 2023.
In particular, in 2023, the salary of the mayor of the Ukrainian capital amounted to his entire income – 1 003 636 UAH. He also indicated in the declaration 338.5 thousand UAH, $35.8 thousand and EUR3 in bank accounts, 209.4 thousand UAH, $52.2 thousand and EUR68.3 thousand in cash, as well as $150 thousand and EUR2.2 million lent to his brother Volodymyr.
Klitschko owns an apartment (251.8 square meters) in Kiev, he is registered in his brother’s apartment (43.6 square meters) in Kiev, as well as owns a vacation home (785.5 square meters) and uses a land plot (2.5 thousand square meters) in Lyutezh, Kiev region (previously owned by his wife).
The mayor also owns a motorcycle Fine custom Puncher 2009, a trailer Ironhorse Widebody 2013 and a car Land Rover Discovery 2013 (previously owned by his wife), as well as free use of three cars: 2 Toyota Sequoia 2021 and Toyota Sequoia 2014, which are rented by his brother.
He also declared: an antique mantel clock (Jacques Murray & Co), 7 men’s wristwatches (2 IWC, 3 Frank Muller, 2 Mont Blanc) and a grand piano (Yamaha).
Among other things, together with his brother, he owns several trademarks: “Klitschko”, “KLICHKO” and “KLITSCHKO”.
According to the declaration, Klitschko owns the corporate rights of two charitable organizations: “Charitable Foundation “Future Kiev” and “Charitable Foundation “Klitschko Foundation”.
As reported, Klitschko declared 1 million UAH of income for 2019, 518 thousand UAH of income for 2020, 646 thousand UAH of income for 2021 and 907.7 thousand UAH of income for 2022.
On Friday, emergency shutdown schedules were canceled until the end of the day in all six regions – Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kirovograd, Poltava, Sumy and Zaporizhzhya, where they were applied during the evening peak load due to grid restrictions and insufficient local generation due to damage to power plants by Russian Federation attacks, the Energy Ministry said.
Its message in Telegram on Saturday notes that as of the morning emergency shutdown schedules are not applied anywhere, and hourly shutdowns are in effect only in Kharkiv region for 120 thousand subscribers, the reason for which is significant damage to the equipment of NEC Ukrenergo by Russian attacks and, as a consequence, the inability to transmit the necessary volume of electricity.
As noted on the air of the telethon “United News” chairman of the Board of “Ukrenergo” Vladimir Kudrytsky, the situation in Kharkiv remains difficult, restoration work continues.
“Today the dispatch center “Ukrenergo” also imposed restrictions in this area. They are less than yesterday, since the weekend, but they remain in place. Also somewhat limited power supply to industry in Dnipropetrovsk region, in particular in Krivoy Rog power hub. In Khmelnitsky and Odessa regions there are no restrictions today”, – described the situation the head of the system operator.
According to the Ministry of Energy, currently there is no electricity deficit in the energy system, it works in a balanced way. It added that yesterday at the request of Poland in the energy system of Ukraine supplied electricity from 12:00 to 15:00 hours.
As a result of the UAV attack on Saturday night, the equipment at one of the substations in Odessa region was disconnected, which left about 70 thousand consumers without light for a short period of time
In addition, in Dnipropetrovsk region, high voltage lines were shut down due to the state of the networks – household consumers, industry, and railroads were left without power supply, where train traffic disruptions were recorded. Within half an hour all consumers were supplied with power.
During the day power engineers have resumed power supply for about 151 thousand consumers, including all those de-energized due to bad weather. In particular, about 18 thousand households, de-energized as a result of unfavorable weather conditions in Kirovograd region, have been restored.
Schedules of emergency shutdowns, Ukraine. Ministry of Energy
Providing microcredits “Ukr Credit Finance” (TM “CreditKasa”) and “1 Safe Agency of necessary loans” (TM “MyCredit”) received the highest revenue among financial companies in 2023 – respectively UAH 3.12 billion and UAH 2.33 billion, the National Bank reported on its website.
The next three companies were formed by FC “E Groshi Kom”, “Miloan” and “Aventus Ukraine” (TM CreditPlus), whose revenue amounted from UAH 1.66 billion to UAH 1.46 billion.
According to the results of 2022, the leaders in terms of revenue were Finod LLC, engaged in currency exchange and deprived of all licenses by the National Bank in August 2023, and Novapey payment system, the data of which the National Bank stopped publishing after re-licensing of payment systems. The net income of these companies in 2022 amounted to respectively UAH 5.41 and 5.18 billion, while the places from third to fifth were taken by “Ukr Credit Finance”, “Aventus Ukraine” and “E Groshi com” with revenue from UAH 2.50 billion to UAH 1.27 billion.
According to the results of 2023, net income over UAH 1 billion was received by five more companies, of which only one is not from the microcredit market: the network of payment terminals FC “Kontraktovy Dom” (TM “Easypay”), which received UAH 1.38 billion.
Following with relatively close revenue figures – from UAH 1.33 billion to UAH 1.07 billion are Lineura Ukraine (TM “Credit7”), LLC “Maniveo Fast Financial Assistance” (Moneyveo), “Consumer Center” (TM “ShvidkoGroshi”) and “Advance Credit”, which demonstrated the highest growth dynamics by the previous year among the entire top ten – almost 37 times.
Among the leaders, the highest labor costs were incurred by “Consumer Center” – UAH 167.8 million, or 13.6% of revenue, while at “Avans Kredit” they amounted to UAH 29.3 million, or 1.8% of revenue.
According to the NBU data, in 2023 the profitability of companies improved dramatically: of the 40 largest representatives of the market, all, except for the State Mortgage Institution (SMI), ended the year with net profit, which totaled UAH 1.57 billion, while a year earlier there were 15 unprofitable companies.
The leader in net profit among financial companies for the past year was PJSC “Ukrfinzhytlo” – UAH 5.94 billion. It is followed by Ukr Credit Finance – UAH 202.7 million, the State Fund for Entrepreneurship Development, the operator of state support programs – UAH 177.7 million and Bizpozyka – UAH 177.1 million.
Slightly behind was Maniveo Fast Financial Aid, which earned UAH 167.7 mln, which allowed it to partially offset UAH 625.6 mln of the previous year’s net loss.
“Ukrfinzhytlo” also significantly outperformed all and in terms of assets – 60.89 billion UAH, owing the primacy in these two categories to its capitalization at the expense of government bonds.
Avior FC specializing in lending to agrarians is next – UAH 12.05 billion, whose revenue amounted to UAH 125.4 million last year.
The other eight companies in the top ten with assets from UAH 8.68 billion to UAH 3.55 billion had no revenue last year, while salary expenses and net profit were minimal.
