Business news from Ukraine

UKRAINE PROPOSES TAX FOR LAND PLOTS FROM SO-CALLED ‘DOMESTIC OFFSHORE’

The government has proposed that the Verkhovna Rada approves methods for calculating minimum tax applicability for land plots under cultivation being in so-called “domestic offshore,” for which taxes are not paid.
The formula for calculating the size of the tax is included in the so-called resource bill No. 5600 with amendments to the Tax Code on ensuring balanced budget receipts. The document was registered in parliament.
The document proposes to supplement Article 381 of the Tax Code with a formula according to which minimum tax applicability depends on the general standard pecuniary value of the land plot and the period during which the land plot was owned by the business entity.
The formula looks like this:
MTA = SPV × A × F × M / 12
Where:
MTA – minimum tax applicability;
SPV – standard pecuniary value of 1 hectare of a land plot;
A is the area of the land plot in hectares;
M is the number of calendar months during which the land plot was owned, leased or used on other terms by the taxpayer;
F – factor equal to 0.05.
According to the document, for a land plot that has not been evaluated it will be assessed as 1 hectare of arable land in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea or in the region, taking into account the indexation factor determined by the Code in the prescribed manner.
For sole proprietors, fourth group payers under the simplified tax system, the factor will be 0.025.
According to the bill, the minimum tax applicability is determined for allotments (allotments for construction); allotment cooperatives (societies) for vegetable growing and gardening; reserve lands; unclaimed plots at the disposal of local governments; sites exposed to radioactive contamination after the Chornobyl disaster in the exclusion zones.
“If an individual owns or uses one or more land plots, the total size of which does not exceed the size specified in Subparagraph 24 of Paragraph 1 of Article 165 of this Code, the minimum tax applicability for these land plots is not determined,” the authors of the bill said in the promulgated document.
When transferring to lease and sublease, inheritance or other use of land, the minimum tax applicability is determined for tenants and users in the manner prescribed in the Tax Code.

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UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT BACKS BILL ON SIMPLIFICATION OF CONNECTION TO POWER GRIDS

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine backed at first reading bill No. 5009 with amendments to some legislative acts of Ukraine regarding the simplification of connection to power grids. The bill was supported by 314 MPs without discussion.
The purpose of the bill is to significantly simplify the procedure for connecting customers to the power grids, reduce the number of procedures, documents and approvals, as well as significantly cut the time required for connection, remove artificial restrictions and remove barriers in the connection procedure, the website of the Verkhovna Rada reported.
The document is aimed at developing business and improving the investment attractiveness of Ukraine by improving its positions in World Bank’s Doing Business.
As Chairman of the relevant parliamentary committee and one of the authors of the bill, Andriy Gerus, said earlier, “the bill provides for simplification of land allocation and documentary procedures for regional electricity supply companies with the purpose of cutting the connection time by 60%.
According to an explanatory note to the document, today it takes over 280 days to connect in particular of a small bakery or workshop to the power grid. The reasons for this are the complex and bureaucratic procedure for registration of rights to land plots for energy facilities, necessary to ensure connections, a significant number of certificates and approvals.
In this regard, the bill abolishes the receipt of certain permits and approvals for connection, the solution of some issues is focused exclusively on the operator of the distribution system, it simplifies access to land plots for energy facilities.
According to the explanatory note, the single-stop mechanism is being implemented to provide customers and developers with design documentation for the construction or reconstruction of power supply networks, electrical installations, applications, inquiries, obtaining output data, information and statements necessary for design and construction and installation works, as well as for approval of the project documentation by the parties involved (authorities).

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UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES AMENDMENTS TO LAND CODE

The Verkhovna Rada has approved amendments to the Land Code and other laws to improve the management and deregulation system in the field of land relations. Some 284 MPs backed at the final reading bill No. 2194.
As reported, the parliament began the second reading of bill No. 2194 on amendments to the Land Code and other laws to improve the management and deregulation system in the field of land relations on March 16.
The bill received 3,128 proposals and amendments, mainly from MPs from the Opposition Platform – For Life and Batkivschyna parliamentary factions.
According to the rules of procedure of the Verkhovna Rada, MPs cannot consider other issues until they finish consideration of the initiated bill.

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UKRAINE’S VERKHOVNA RADA PASSES AT FIRST READING BILL ON BUREAU OF ECONOMIC SECURITY

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.

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