The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has approved some fiscal incentives for the development of electric transport in Ukraine, in particular, VAT and import duty exemption from 2021 until 2028 for equipment and spare parts for own production of electric transport (passenger cars, electric buses, electric trucks and special-purpose vehicles).
Bill No. 3476 amending the Tax Code and bill No. 3477 amending the Customs Code were passed at the first reading by 316 and 308 lawmakers respectively.
The proposed exemption will not apply only to equipment for the production of trolleybuses, because their output has already been established in Ukraine.
In addition, bill No. 3476 proposes to exempt the electrical industry companies selling electric motors for the production of electric vehicles (with the exception of trolleybuses), lithium-ion batteries, chargers, as well as automobile companies selling electric cars of their own production from paying income tax until December 31, 2033.
The bill proposes to extend or expand benefits for importers and buyers of electric vehicles.
It is proposed, in particular, to extend the VAT exemption for import and/or supply of electric cars until December 31, 2025 (currently the benefit is valid until the end of 2022).
A buyer of an electric car before December 31, 2030 is also offered to be exempted from paying the mandatory pension insurance fee, be provided with a tax discount on the payment of personal income tax, but these standards are proposed to be introduced from January 1, 2026.
According to an explanatory note to the bills, there is a sufficient industrial potential of Ukraine in the production of electric vehicles. In particular, there are five bus plants, a truck plant, and the facilities, which produce 300,000 passenger cars at three plants.
However, today the government is stimulating the import of electric vehicles, not their production. In particular, from January 1, 2016, there is no import duty, exemption from VAT is extended until 2022 and the excise rate is set at EUR 1 per 1 kW/h of battery capacity.
“The introduction of preferential taxation increased the import of electric vehicles from 1,706 vehicles in 2016 to 7,542 vehicles in 2019, but used electric vehicles are dominating in the market (93% in 2019),” the authors of the bills said.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES, EQUIPMENT, IMPORTED, PARLIAMENT, PRODUCTION
KYIV. Sept 2 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Verkhovna Rada has ratified an agreement on the joint production of audiovisual works between the governments of Ukraine and Canada.
Some 318 deputies voted for corresponding bill No. 0040 at the plenary session on Wednesday.
The agreement was signed in Toronto on July 2, 2019.
An explanatory note to the draft law says that the ratification of the agreement will contribute to the intensification of the international activities of the subjects of cinematography of Ukraine in joint film production with other countries.
AGREEMENT, CANADA, CO-PRODUCTION AUDIOVISUAL WORKS, PARLIAMENT, RATIFIES
With the adoption at first reading a bill, the Verkhovna Rada set the minimum rental period for agricultural land under vineyards or for laying it at 25 years.
Bill No. 2064 on amending certain legislative acts of Ukraine concerning the promotion of viticulture in Ukraine was supported by 295 MPs.
In addition, the bill establishes the pre-emptive right to renegotiate the contract after the expiration of the previous period for a person who leases land for growing vineyards and who properly fulfills the terms of the contract.
It is envisaged that upon transfer of ownership with the early termination of the right to use the land plot under viticulture, the land user should be paid reimbursement of expenses incurred for laying and caring for perennial plantations, as well as for losses incurred. The amount of losses should be determined by an independent assessment.
According to an explanatory note to the document, in recent years 21,200 hectares of new plantings were grown on farms of all forms of ownership, and 34,100 hectares were uprooted.
The problems of the development of viticulture are also associated with the high capital intensity of creating a modern vineyard (investments per 1 ha are more than UAH 100,000) and the duration of its payback. The duration of the creation of a vineyard is four years or more. The period of intensive operation of an industrial vineyard is 20-25 years.
Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada has adopted bill No. 2493on joint stock companies, which proposes to allow companies to choose a corporate governance model and, along with the current two-tier corporate governance system, introduces a single-level one.
An Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reported that the bill at first reading was supported by 270 MPs with the required 226 supportive votes.
“This law brings the legislation into line with the requirements of reality. The general meetings are being improved: it is envisaged that they can be held in electronic form. A corporate affairs adviser is being introduced to help shareholders. The legal status of the corporate secretary has been settled. Today he or she may be appointed by the supervisory board of the company, but his or her status is not regulated,” Head of the parliamentary committee on finance, tax and customs policy Danylo Hetmantsev said from the rostrum of the parliament.
At the same time, one of the main innovations of the bill is to strengthen the protection of minority shareholders, one of the authors of the bill, MP from the Servant of the People parliamentary faction Roksolana Pidlasa said.
“Today, the majority of the rights of the world’s shareholders appear only if the share of their stockholding reaches 10%,” she said.
According to the explanatory note to the bill, the bill also brings the rules on the representation of shareholders in accordance with EU law, in particular, Directive 2007/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of July 11, 2007 on the exercise of certain rights of shareholders in listed companies, and also harmonizes legislation on mergers, acquisitions and divisions of JSC with Directive 2017/1132/EC.
Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has set up an ad hoc panel on protection of the investors’ rights.
A total of 319 MPs voted for this resolution at its plenary meeting on Friday.
According to an explanatory note, setting up of the commission will promote conditions for the investment activity in Ukraine and protection of rights and freedoms of the investors.
Member of the Servant of the People faction Halyna Yanchenko became head of the panel, Holos faction member Yaroslav Zhelezniak became her deputy. Eleven MPs make up the panel.
Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada has returned bill No. 2285-d on the public regulation of activities in the sphere of organization of gambling for refining by the committee and preparing it for repeated first reading. The document was registered in parliament on December 18.
An Interfax-Ukraine correspondent has reported that MPs did not support the bill at first reading casting only 213 votes with at least 226 required, while 243 MPs backed the decision to send the document for repeated first reading.
As reported, the Cabinet of Ministers registered bill No. 2285 in the parliament, and MPs submitted seven more alternative documents, among is finalized bill No. 2285-d, authored by MP Oleksandr Dubinsky (the Servant of the People parliamentary faction).
The bill proposes to limit the number of licenses for gambling establishments. In addition, it is proposed to establish mandatory verification of players when accepting bets and registering winners in the online monitoring system.
At the same time, the government bill proposes to establish special gambling zones for casinos and slot machines: the territory of five-star hotels for casinos and three star and higher rated hotels for slot machines.
The law on the national budget for 2020 provides for revenues from licenses in the field of gambling in the amount of UAH 4.4 billion, which will be sent to the budget’s special fund, and everything that exceeds the amount specified in the law will be spent on subventions to local budgets to finance various educational and healthcare programs.
