Ukrainian MPs have proposed to exempt from taxation and paying imports duty for spare parts and car and truck bodies for assembly of electric vehicles (cars and trucks) and electric buses in Ukraine, exempt buyers of electric cars from paying pension tax and extractors of lithium, manufacturers of batteries and electric cars from paying profit tax. Bills Nos. 8159 and 8160 amending the Tax and Customs codes of Ukraine were registered in the Verkhovna Rada on March 19 by MPs Nina Yuzhanina, Ihor Kononenko, Maksym Burbak, Oleh Liashko, Robert Horvat and some other lawmakers.
Bill No. 8159 introducing amendments to the Tax Code and some legislative acts to stimulate the development of the electric transport industry in Ukraine proposes, in particular, that until December 31, 2028, imports of spare parts for the production of vehicles equipped with one or several electric engines are exempted from paying VAT.
For the same period, the bill proposes to exempt the import of bodies (including cabs) for the production of vehicles equipped with electric engines from paying excise duty.
In addition, for this period, the payer of the personal income tax may include the cost of purchasing an electric vehicle or retrofitting to it in the tax discount and individual buyers of electric cars are proposed to be exempted from paying a compulsory pension insurance tax.
The document provides for exemption from taxation of profits of enterprises that sell lithium of their own production, lithium-ion (lithium-polymer) batteries, battery chargers, as well as electric cars and electric buses of their own production the period until December 31, 2032.
In addition, the deputies propose that from January 1, 2021, a share of at least 5% of parking lots equipped with chargers for parking electric vehicles is foreseen.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman is in favor of boosting the funding of Ukrainian science and the Innovation Development Fund. “I’m for increasing the funding of science, I’m for an increase in financing of the Fund for start-ups,” Groysman said at a meeting with participants in the Sikorsky Challenge Innovation Ecosystem at the National Technical University ‘Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute’ on Tuesday. According to the prime minister, this can be done, including, with the support of an international partner.
Speaking in the context of the development of Ukrainian science, Groysman mentioned the need to stop labor migration. As reported, Ukraine’s national budget for 2018 foresees UAH 1.76 billion for the Secretariat of Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers (49.8% up on 2017) and another UAH 1.63 billion for the support of a comprehensive reform of public administration.
Of this amount, UAH 50 million is allocated for the functioning of the Innovation Development Fund and the creation and functioning of office to raise and support investment.
An agreement between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Government of the State of Qatar on the mutual abolition of visa requirements was signed in the wake of talks between Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. “I would like to congratulate all Ukrainians on the fact that we have finally managed to reach an agreement on the visa-free travel between Ukraine and Qatar. It gives even more value to the Ukrainian passport. It means more respect for Ukrainians. Unique tourist opportunities for Ukrainians in Qatar will be created and there will be a large number of Qatari citizens who will visit Ukraine,” Poroshenko’s press service quoted him as saying.
The Head of State also says that Doha is an air hub and two aircrafts a day were launched from Kyiv.
The agreement stipulates that citizens of Ukraine and citizens of the State of Qatar who use passports for traveling abroad valid for at least 6 months from the date of entry into the state of the other Party may enter, leave, transit and stay without a visa on its territory for up to 90 days within 180 days.
“The signing of the document will promote the development of cooperation between Ukraine and the State of Qatar in the consular, legal, economic and humanitarian spheres, lead to a new level of protection of the rights and interests of legal entities and individuals of Ukraine in Qatar, intensify contacts of business representatives of both countries, open additional opportunities for national tourism sectors, serve for the expansion of friendly ties between the peoples of Ukraine and the State of Qatar,” the Ukrainian president’s press service said.
Exports of soft berries from Ukraine, mostly bilberries and blueberries (61%), in 2017 in monetary terms amounted to $66.5 million, according to the Ukrainian Horticultural Association. “Currently 44% of all exports in terms of volume and 47% in monetary terms fall on forest fresh and frozen bilberry,” it said. At the same time, association analysts expect that the volume of export of this berry will decrease as will its share in exports.
“The main reason is that the number of people who collect forest berries is declining, because many of them left for the EU for seasonal earnings due to the visa-free regime,” the experts explained.
According to the report, about 6% of exports of berries in monetary and quantity terms fall on wild forest blackberry. In general, “wild” berries account for about 50% of all exports in quantitative terms and more than 50% in revenues. However, the association said if not to take into account “wild-growing” berries, then the share of raspberry in exports in 2017 was 59%, that of garden strawberry some 24%, and blueberries some 15%.
The Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine (PGO) did not reveal any violations during the searches at the offices of Nova Poshta on March 16, Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko assured Nova Poshta co-owner Viacheslav Klimov. “The funds of customers of Post Finance [the Forpost system] seized during the search will be returned. The legal service of the Nova Poshta group of companies will answer all questions of the Prosecutor General’s Office and will provide all the necessary materials that will allow making a lawful decision on the case,” the group wrote on Facebook.
At the same time, it notes the prosecutor general expressed concern about the use of carriers in schemes for transportation of illegal goods. “The parties agreed to develop a joint action plan to prevent possible cases of transportation of illegal goods,” Nova Poshta stated.
PGO Speaker Andriy Lysenko, in turn, wrote on Facebook that during a meeting of Yuriy Lutsenko and Viacheslav Klimov, the parties expressed interest in the lawful organization of work of the leader of the Ukrainian express delivery market. “The prosecutor general and the Nova Poshta representative agreed on cooperation to improve the company’s work, minimize the risks of carrying prohibited goods and prevent possible illegal financial services in order to evade taxation. For this the working meetings of Nova Poshta lawyers and financiers with the representatives of the Prosecutor General’s Office will be held, as well as control purchases of goods and services will be made,” the speaker said.
He also said that Lutsenko informed Klimov about the numerous facts of violations, which were revealed in work of the Nova Poshta branches. In particular, this concerned the transfer of non-excise alcoholic drinks and narcotic substances in large quantities. The investigators also received information from the Interior Ministry regarding possible tax evasion in the course of money transfers.
As reported, with reference to Lutsenko’s press secretary Larysa Sarhan, the Prosecutor General’s Office suspects officials of the companies affiliated with Nova Poshta LLC of non-payment of taxes in especially large amounts, and therefore on March 16 it conducted searches in the central office in Kyiv and other offices of the company in Poltava, Odesa, Dnipro, Kharkiv, and Lviv.
Later it became known that Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman instructed the Ministry of Justice, the Business Ombudsman Council, the Ukraine Investment Promotion Office to analyze the cases of searches at the enterprises and prepare a meeting of the special commission formed in the framework of monitoring the implementation of the law on business protection “stop masks-show.”
Tractebel Engineering from ENGIE Group in a preliminary feasibility study for building a ground solar power plant with a capacity of 1.2 GW in the exclusion zone around Chornobyl nuclear power plant (NPP) offers a modular concept of building eight 150 MW substations. “We understand that the north of Kyiv region is not the best location for solar plants, but this is the area that needs this project. Tractebel Engineering’s conclusion about this project is rather cautious: the construction of solar plants is possible,” Head of the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management Vitaliy Petruk said, when presenting the feasibility study in Kyiv.
“Based on the results of the feasibility study, the construction of solar stations is cost-effective and will require more than EUR1 billion of investments,” Yulia Kovaliv, the head of the office of the National Investment Council, said.
Tractebel Engineering explains the feasibility of the phased construction of solar plants with the desire to avoid difficulties with logistics. According to the document, the estimated time for building one substation will be about 17 months.
At the same time, the project of Chornobyl solar plants requires a more detailed economic justification, the report of Tractebel Engineering says. According to it, radiation pollution will increase costs for stations in comparison with the typical solar station project, but it does not undermine the economy of the project.
According to Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Ostap Semerak, the approximate cost of investments in the whole project with a capacity of 1.2 GW will be about EUR1 billion.
