PrJSC Philip Morris Ukraine, a large tobacco producer, proposes to replace a 320% tax increase on tobacco products for electric heating, which should come into force on January 1, 2021, with an annual increase of 50% during 2022-2025 or 200% in 2021 and 20% in subsequent years.
According to the published letter of Philip Morris Ukraine CEO Konstantinos Salvaras to the president of Ukraine, a gradual increase in the excise tax on tobacco products for electric heating by 50% per year or by 200% in 2021 and by 20% in subsequent years will save the market from a total transition to the shadows and bring more revenues to the state budget than a sharp increase in the excise tax rate by 320%.
“We urge the government to move away from the practice of unpredictable and unstable tax policy, which affects both the attitude of investors and the economy of the country. Tax increases should be gradual, not fourfold,” the Philip Morris letter says.
The company reported that the government and academia share the vision of a gradual increase in the tax rate. Thus, the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture supports the idea of increasing the rate on tobacco products for electric heating by 50% from January 1, 2021 and by 50% during 2022-2025, and a study conducted by the Institute for Economics and Forecasting of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine shows that a gradual increase in the excise tax on tobacco products for electric heating will provide additional UAH 18.7 million of revenues to the state budget compared to a sharp increase in the tax rate.
According to Philip Morris’ estimates, a sharp increase in excise taxes will lead to the loss of potential and real investments, state budget revenues, an increase in the level of smuggling, and a conflict with EU legislation.
Interpipe international vertically integrated pipe and wheel company in January-March of this year increased payment of taxes and fees to the budgets of all levels and extra-budgetary funds by 3% compared to the same period last year, to UAH 803 million.
The company said on Facebook the amount of contributions to the state budget totaled UAH 547 million, to local budgets some UAH 147 million, another UAH 109 million was transferred as social security tax.
“The Ukrainian industrial company Interpipe and its assets make a significant contribution to filling the state treasury. Last year we updated the record for paying taxes and fees, but we do not stop there: according to the results of the first quarter of 2020 some UAH 803 million were transferred to the budgets of different levels. In addition, given the increased burden on regional budgets due to coronavirus, Interpipe refused tax holidays provided by the Verkhovna Rada and allocated UAH 17 million for the anti-crisis program to combat COVID-19 in Dnipro and Dnipropetrovsk region,” the company said.
As reported, Interpipe in 2019 increased payment of taxes and fees to the budgets of all levels by 50% compared to 2018, to UAH 3.25 billion. At the same time, the amount of contributions to the state budget totaled about UAH 2.167 billion (an increase of 62%), to local budgets about UAH 625 million (38% more). Another UAH 462 million (21% more) was transferred as social security tax.
PJSC Donbasenergo in 2019 paid UAH 701.5 million of taxes and other mandatory payments to the national and local budgets, the press service of the company has reported. Thus, UAH 665.7 million of VAT, environmental tax, the royalty for the use of water resources and other taxes was paid to the national budget. Some UAH 35.8 million (land tax, property tax and other taxes) was paid to the local budget.
The company said that according to the Tax Code, starting from July 2019 Donbasenergo as an electricity generating company paid UAH 80.8 million of the excise duty, which is set at 3.2% of the cost of each kWh of electricity generated.
Donbasenergo owns Starobesheve (located in the occupied territory) and Sloviansk TPPs with a total installed capacity of 2,880 MW, in particular Sloviansk TPP’s capacity is 880 MW. At the end of March 2017, the generation company announced the loss of control over the operation of Starobesheve TPP, as well as part of structural units located in the temporarily uncontrolled territory.
PrJSC Energoinvest Holding owns a 60.86% stake in Donbasenergo, another 25% is owned by the state.
NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy and its member companies paid UAH 83.7 billion in taxes and dividends to the national budget in January-September 2019, the company’s press service said.
Budget payments from the group accounted for about 15% of total budget revenue for the nine months of 2019, the company’s press service said.
As reported, in 2018 Naftogaz and its affiliated companies paid UAH 137.8 billion in taxes and dividends to the state budget in 2018, which was 27.2% more than in 2017. In particular, dividends were paid in the amount of UAH 29.5 billion, oil and gas production royalties totaled UAH 28.5 billion, VAT payments stood at UAH 37.4 billion, payments of corporate profit tax were UAH 23.9 billion.
Naftogaz brings together the country’s biggest oil and gas producers. It holds a monopoly on the transit of natural gas and its storage in underground facilities and on the transportation of crude oil by pipeline throughout Ukraine.
Prime Minister of Ukraine Oleksiy Honcharuk states that the government does not intend to raise taxes.
“We as a government do not plan to raise taxes, this is the wrong way. The state should not increase the amount of resources that it passes through itself,” Honcharuk said on the air of ICTV Channel on Monday evening.
According to him, the state should create incentives so that people are not afraid to invest in their business, and then develop it.
The IT industry of Ukraine will pay UAH 9-10 billion of taxes in 2018, according to a study of experts from IT Ukraine and Better Regulation Delivery Office (BRDO).
“In the first half of 2018, the amount of taxes paid by the Ukrainian IT industry increased by 30.1% and amounted to about UAH 5 billion. We predict that by the end of the year it will be UAH 9-10 billion, which will go both to the local budget and the country’s budget,” IT Ukraine said on its website, citing President of IT Ukraine, Managing director of GlobalLogic in Ukraine Ihor Beda.
IT Ukraine also said that, according to the State Fiscal Service, the amount of taxes paid by IT companies in 2014-2017 grew annually by an average of 27% and reached UAH 4.1 billion. In 2018, this trend continues.
A significant number of IT professionals collaborate with companies under contracts as individual entrepreneurs, independently paying the single social security tax. The volume of this tax, according to State Fiscal Service, amounted to UAH 3.2 billion in 2017.
According to a poll conducted as part of the survey, payment for the services of specialists is 80-85% of the costs of companies.
In addition, the importance of IT services in the structure of Ukrainian exports is growing rapidly.
“According to the results of the first half of 2018, IT services overtook pipeline transportation and became the second largest industry in the export of services – more than 20% of all exported services,” IT Ukraine said.
According to the survey of companies, revenues of the domestic IT business are predominantly of foreign origin – Ukrainian developers cooperate with the United States, the U.K., Germany, Canada, Israel, Sweden and Switzerland.
“If current conditions are maintained, the growth rate of the IT industry in the coming years will be 20-25%. But Ukraine’s potential in the field of IT products and services is much more… The growth of the industry by 25-30% is possible in the near future if the government and the state will focus on priority sectors and will start to solve urgent problems in a comprehensive manner,” Head of Epam Ukraine Yuriy Antoniuk said, being quoted in the IT Ukraine report.
He said that the pressing challenges of IT business in Ukraine are: employment of foreigners, the development of human capital and education, the elimination of obsolete legislative barriers, the development of the ecosystem and the creation of technology parks.
