The State Tax Service has fined the adult website PornHub $5.54 thousand for non-payment of the so-called “Google tax,” according to Danylo Hetmantsev, chairman of the parliamentary committee on finance, tax and customs policy.
“Unfortunately, not all taxpayers operating adult services are equally responsible for taxation. For example, the well-known Onlyfans service has already paid $944.1 thousand to the state budget of Ukraine since the beginning of 2023. At the same time, the company that operates the PornHub website evades registration, which resulted in a fine of $5543 and a corresponding tax notice (tax decision notice) sent to the company and the Canada Revenue Agency,” Hetmantsev wrote on Telegram.
He reminded that Ukraine is ranked 14th among other countries according to PornHub’s rating of electronic services viewed by consumers of the site.
A week earlier, the head of the committee said that in the third quarter of 2023, 96 declarations for EUR26.6 million and $29.9 million, or UAH 2.092 billion, were filed as part of the “Google tax”, while in the second quarter of 2023, EUR25.7 million and $27.7 million, or UAH 2.054 billion, were declared for payment.
Hetmantsev clarified that the largest amounts to the budget of Ukraine are paid by Google, Apple, Sony, Ebay, Amazon, Meta platforms and Netflix.
As reported, in 2021, the Verkhovna Rada passed a law on the “Google tax”, which proposes to equalize the taxation rules for international technology companies with those of Ukraine. In particular, it stipulates that international companies operating in the information space of Ukraine and earning money from online advertising will pay taxes in Ukraine, including VAT.
Oil prices are moving weakly and in different directions on Tuesday morning after strong growth in the previous session.
The price of February futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange at 7:11 a.m. was $78.09 per barrel, which is $0.14 (0.18%) higher than at the close of the previous session. On Monday, these contracts rose in price by $1.4 (1.8%) to $77.95 per barrel.
Quotations for January futures for WTI in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) by this time decreased by $0.12 (0.17%) to $72.35 per barrel. At the end of the previous session, they rose by $1.04 (1.5%) to $72.47 per barrel.
The rise in oil prices was triggered by attacks by Yemeni Houthis on ships traveling through the Red Sea. As a result, the largest maritime carriers began to redirect their tankers and container ships to other routes, and BP plc suspended all oil transportation through the region.
“These attacks are nothing new, but their intensity has increased in recent weeks,” wrote Robert Fraser of Schneider Electric. – “The Houthis do not have the strength to blockade the region, but they can disrupt shipping and change risk assessments.
In addition, the oil market was supported by the results of the Federal Reserve meeting held last week. Fed officials signaled that the cycle of interest rate hikes is over and predicted a 75 basis point cut in the key rate over the next year.
“The Fed’s decision bolstered hopes for a soft landing, and the macroeconomic data was not bad enough to increase fears of a hard landing,” Sevens Report Research analysts wrote.
In November 2023, TAS Insurance Group (Kyiv) increased the volume of premiums collected by 40.1% to UAH 299.31 million compared to the same period in 2022, according to the group’s website.
The collected premiums under hull insurance contracts for the period amounted to UAH 71.66 million, which is 23.94% of the company’s total premiums and 16.5% higher than the corresponding figure for November 2022.
MTPL accounted for 35.81% of the premiums collected, or UAH 107.18 million of premiums, which is 31.8% more than last year, while Green Card accounted for 27.14% or UAH 81.23 million of payments (+88.3%).
In turn, under voluntary health insurance contracts, TAS IG attracted UAH 6.89 million of insurance premiums, which is 63.2% more, under property insurance contracts – UAH 6.09 million of insurance payments, under other insurance contracts – UAH 26.26 million, which is 52.4% more than last year.
TAS Insurance Group was registered in 1998. It is a universal company offering more than 80 types of insurance products in various types of voluntary and compulsory insurance. It has an extensive regional network of 28 regional directorates and branches.
In November 2023, the company increased payments by 96.1% to UAH 145 million.
Structure of foreign exchange reserves as of 30.09.2023
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
Ukraine’s public debt to GDP ratio from 2009 to 2023 (UAH mln)
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
In January-November this year, Ukrainian mining companies reduced exports of iron ore in physical terms by 30.5% year-on-year to 16 million 145,920 thousand tons.
According to the statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS), foreign exchange earnings from iron ore exports amounted to $1 billion 624.403 million (down 42.8%) in the period under review.
Iron ore was exported mainly to Slovakia (28.73% of supplies in monetary terms), Poland (20.20%) and the Czech Republic (20.18%).
In January-November of this year, Ukraine imported iron ore worth $131 thousand in the total volume of 244 tons. Imports during this period came from Norway (35.88%), the Netherlands (29.77%) and Italy (26.72%). At the same time, during the same period in 2022, iron ore worth $62 thousand was imported in a total volume of 96 tons.
As reported, in 2022, Ukraine decreased the export of iron ore in physical terms by 45.9% compared to 2021 – to 23 million 984.623 thousand tons, while foreign exchange earnings decreased by 57.8% to $2 billion 912.974 million.
Iron ore was exported mainly to Slovakia (19.23% of supplies in monetary terms), the Czech Republic (17.32%) and Poland (16.49%).
Last year, Ukraine imported iron ore worth $65 thousand in a total volume of 101 tons, while in 2021 – $184 thousand in a volume of 1,202 thousand tons.
Imports were carried out from Norway (36.92%), the Netherlands (27.69%) and the UK (16.92%).
