Legislative news digest: LEGAL HOTLINE 10.09.2020

The law on the increase of the minimum wage in Ukraine was signed

The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi signed the Law “On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2020” No. 822-IX dated August 25, 2020, which provides for an increase of the minimum wage in Ukraine up to UAH 5,000 per month from September 1, 2020.

Given the increase of the minimum wage, the Cabinet of Ministers decided to increase the salary (tariff rate) of an employee of the 1st tariff category under the Unified wage scale of categories and coefficients for the remuneration of public sector employees and set it at the level of UAH 2,225 from September 1, 2020.

The State Border Guard Service published the list of documents giving the right to enter Ukraine to foreigners

Let us remind that the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted Resolution No. 757 on August 27, 2020, which amended Resolution No. 641 dated July 22, 2020, and specified the categories of foreigners who will be allowed to enter Ukraine during the period of restrictions from August 28 to September 28, 2020. 

In this regard, the State Border Guard Service provided its clarifications on the list of documents confirming the purpose of travel to Ukraine of certain categories of foreigners or stateless persons during the temporary restrictions on entry into Ukraine, noting that foreigners or stateless persons:

• who are a spouse of a citizen of Ukraine must have their marriage certificate;
• who are parents or children of a citizen of Ukraine must have their birth certificate;
• who travel through the territory of Ukraine in transit must have documents confirming their departure abroad within two days;
• who arrive in Ukraine for study must have an invitation from the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine or a certificate of temporary residence in Ukraine or a type D visa;
• who permanently or temporarily reside on the territory of Ukraine must have a certificate of permanent or temporary residence in Ukraine;
• who are cultural figures visiting Ukraine at the invitation of a cultural institution together with one person accompanying each of them must have an invitation of the cultural institution, documents confirming the status of the accompanying person;
• who are technical specialists visiting Ukraine at the invitation of representatives of Ukrainian enterprises must have an invitation from the representatives of Ukrainian enterprises;

The full list of documents confirming the purpose of the visit of foreigners to Ukraine can be found at the link.

The draft law on special features of taxation of some investors was adopted as a basis

On September 3, 2020, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted Draft Law No. 3761 “On Amendments to Section XX “Transitional Provisions ”of the Tax Code of Ukraine on the Special Features of Taxation of Business Entities Implementing Investment Projects with Significant Investments”.

The document proposes the following changes:

• exemption (until January 1, 2035) from VAT of transactions for the import of certain goods under the import customs regime into the customs territory of Ukraine. The list and quantities of such goods with their codes in accordance with the UKT ZED are approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine along with the conclusion of a special investment agreement with the investor;
• exemption from corporate income tax for investors with significant investments for five consecutive years from the date of submission of the application, but not earlier than the date of submission of such application and the date of commissioning of the facility built under the investment project;
• until January 1, 2035, local self-government bodies may set land tax rates and rental fees for state and municipal land in an amount less than the land tax rate set by a decision of the relevant local self-government body for a certain category of land paid in the respective territory. This provision will apply to land plots for which a regulatory monetary assessment has been performed and which are used under investment projects with significant investments. 

The adoption of the relevant law is aimed at promoting the attraction of strategic investors into the economy of Ukraine, increasing the investment attractiveness of Ukraine and increasing the competitiveness of Ukraine’s economy through state support for large investment projects.