Verkhovna Rada has passed at first reading the President’s draft law on reducing value added tax (VAT) to 7% for representatives of culture, tourism, creative industries.
An Interfax-Ukraine correspondent has reported that some 273 MPs voted in favor of bill No. 3851 on amending the Tax Code of Ukraine to support culture, tourism and creative industries at first reading at the meeting on Tuesday, September 15.
“Since our field of work mainly requires offline performance and it is extremely difficult to shift to online mode, therefore we believe that… theatre, opera, ballet, music, concert, other performances, … production of … films and so on may be charged 7% VAT,” noted the Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko at the presentation of the law.
He added that the bill provides for 7% VAT for operations related to temporary accommodation services provided by hotels, in view of the extremely high losses that this sector suffered due to quarantine measures.
“This law had been the subject of lengthy debates in the relevant ministries and I ask you now to lend a hand to the field of culture and creative industries,” Tkachenko summed up.
Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada has adopted at the first reading bill No. 3087-d on the creation of the Bureau of Economic Security, which should become a single body for combating economic crimes and remove the duplication of these functions from various law enforcement agencies.
An Interfax-Ukraine correspondent has reported that the bill was supported by 245 MPs with the required 226 votes.
According to the document, the director of the Bureau is appointed based on the results of a competition and dismissed by the president. However, by the second reading it is planned to amend the bill to reassign the head of this body to the Cabinet of Ministers, said the co-author of the bill and Head of the committee on finance, tax and customs policy Danylo Hetmantsev.
According to him, this is necessary taking into account the decision of the Constitutional Court on the unconstitutionality of the appointment of Artem Sytnyk as director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau.
As the text of the bill shows, it is proposed to set the maximum number of the Bureau’s employees at 4,000 people. In turn, Hetmantsev said that the current number of employees of the tax police is 4,600.
“The director is accountable to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine,” Hetmantsev said.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted bill No. 3761 with amendments to the Tax Code with benefits for projects with significant investments, as well as bill No. 3262, with amendments to the Customs Code from the package of bills on investment raising.
According to a correspondent of Interfax-Ukraine, bill No. 3261 was supported by 273 MPs and bill No. 3262 was supported by 262 MPs, with the required 226 votes.
The bills provide tax incentives for investors who implement projects with significant investments, as well as exempt from import duties on equipment for such projects.
In addition, the bill amending the Tax Code proposes to exempt equipment from VAT for 2021-2035, which is imported for the implementation of a project with significant investments, and also provides for income tax benefits.
Deputy Head of the President’s Office Yulia Kovaliv said that the bills are intended to strengthen Ukraine’s position in investment raising and creating new jobs in the package with the previously adopted bill No. 3760 on investment.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expects that capital amnesty will be introduced in 2020, and the respective legislative initiative will be registered in the Verkhovna Rada soon. “We will introduce amnesty this year. We have to do it, we agreed on it and promised people. But now there were offers for the percent – 5% both for money and real estate… I think today the situation in the country is difficult, we need to think about these percent. If a person has any real estate or other facilities, this percentage should be relaxed,” the president said at a press conference on Wednesday.
“Perhaps real estate can be amnestied at a lower percentage or even at zero,” he added.
”We need to turn this page of history so that all Ukrainians would like to be taxpayers,” the head of state said.
Earlier, tax amnesty bill No. 1232 proposed a mechanism for individuals to declare hidden income, the tax rates of 5% and 10%, as well as a lowered 2.5% rate when investing in government domestic loan bonds.
Presidential bill No. 2300 on the abolition of a government monopoly on alcohol production from July 1, 2020, has passed its second reading and has been adopted as a whole. It was backed by 284 lawmakers, namely 229 MPs from the Servant of the People parliamentary faction, three from Batkivschyna, 19 from the Holos (Voice) Party, 14 from the For Future parliamentary group, and 19 independent lawmakers. Bill No. 2300 on amendments to the law on state regulation of the production and sale of ethyl, cognac and fruit alcohol, alcoholic beverages, tobacco and fuels provides for the abolition of a government monopoly on the production of alcohol from July 1, 2020.
In addition, the bill allows business entities – regardless of their form of ownership – to produce alcohol with an appropriate license, and also provides for the full liberalization of alcohol exports from Ukraine.
A license for the production of ethyl alcohol is issued to enterprises with established round-the-clock video surveillance systems for the production and distribution of products. Disabling video surveillance systems is the basis for the refusal to issue a license or its recall, the document says.
At the same time, to protect the local commodity producer, the bill provides that only state-owned enterprises authorized by the Cabinet of Ministers will be able to import ethyl alcohol until January 1, 2024.
In addition, the bill provides for a ban on commissioning new alcohol production facilities before July 1, 2021. It also introduces an obligation to maintain jobs at privatized enterprises at 70% of the total number of employees for this period.
The bill also introduces mandatory denaturation of bioethanol with petrol from 1-10% for use in the domestic market.
Ukraine’s parliament on November 12 passed at first reading bill No. 2240 settling the issue of amber production, which envisages the introduction of unified licenses for exploration with the right to produce amber during the period of five years for the sites up to 10 ha sold at electronic auctions on the ProZorro platform.
A total of 342 MPs backed the document.
According to the bill, access to amber deposits will be regulated by establishing the right of land easements and the definition of separate Article 971 of the Land Code for the exploration and mining of amber deposits on disturbed lands.
In addition, the document introduces criminal liability for illegal mining and administrative liability for violation of mining requirements, as well as toughens liability for non-compliance with land reclamation requirements and the obligation to compensate for losses incurred.
According to the Ministry of Energy and Environment Protection, the bill also removes a number of duplicate and archaic approvals for amber deposits (in particular, mineral titles and permission to remove the fertile layer) and introduces the filing of all documents in electronic form through an electronic account.
