Legal Hotline | Digest of the main legislative changes in Ukraine 24.06.2021

Law On Tax Amnesty adopted

On June 15, 2021, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law “On Amending the Tax Code of Ukraine on Stimulating the Unshadowing Incomes and Increasing the Tax Culture Level of Citizens by Introducing the One-Time (Special) Voluntary Declaration by Individuals of Their Assets and Payment of One-Time Fee to the Budget” (hereinafter referred to as the “Law“).

The document provides for one-time (special) voluntary declaration. One-time (special) voluntary declaration provides for the option for an individual to declare his/her assets located in Ukraine and/or abroad on which no taxes have been paid earlier without stating the sources of origin of such assets.

The Law makes it possible to declare assets, which have been obtained (acquired) at the expense of:

• income from which taxes and duties have not been paid or have not been paid in full as of the moment of obtaining them if the income was subject to taxation;
• income, which was not declared before January 1, 2021 in violation of the requirements of tax and currency control legislation.

The assets, which will be possible to declare, will include:

• foreign currency on accounts in the banks of Ukraine and in the foreign banks;
• movable and immovable property;
• securities and financial instruments, etc.

It will not be possible to declare assets obtained as a result of criminal offences, as well as cash funds. In order to declare cash funds, they are to be first deposited into a special bank account and provide confirmation of the origin of such funds.

Assets, which are not to be declared under the Law, shall include:

• funds and assets the value of which does not exceed the equivalent of UAH 400 thousand;
• apartment with the area of up to 120 sq. m. or residential house with the area of up to 240 sq. m.

The declaration stipulated by the Law can be submitted by:

• individual residents of Ukraine, including self-employed persons;
• individual non-residents of Ukraine who were residents as of the moment of obtaining the assets or as of the moment of obtaining income at the expense of which the assets were obtained (acquired).

The following fee rates payable on the value of the declared assets are proposed by the Law:

• 5% — on currency valuables in the banks of Ukraine and assets located in Ukraine;
• 9% — on currency valuables in foreign banks or financial institutions, and assets located abroad;
• 2.5% — on the par value of government bonds of Ukraine with the maturity term of over 365 days without the right of early redemption, which were purchased before submitting the declaration during the period from January 1, 2021 to June 20, 2022.

The declaration under the Law can be submitted from September 1, 2021 to September 1, 2022. The Law is pending signature of the President of Ukraine and has not yet come into force.

Law On the New Rules of Financial Leasing has come into force

The Law of Ukraine “On Financial Leasing” determining the new rules of financial leasing in Ukraine (hereinafter referred to as the “Law“) came into force on June 13 of this year.

The Law provides for the following important provisions to regulate the financial leasing area:

• state regulation of financial leasing is to be carried out by the National Bank of Ukraine;
• features of financial leasing have been determined, in particular in respect of the object of financial leasing: 75% depreciation of the initial value, correspondence of the amount of lease payments to the initial value, absence of excess of the balance sheet value of an object over 25% of its initial value;
• land plots and other natural objects, as well as state-owned and municipal property items, which may not be leased under the law, may not be subjects to the financial leasing;
• conditions, form, content and specific aspects of entering into a financial leasing agreement.

The Law provides for the mechanisms for protecting the title to the object of leasing, which may not be forfeited, may not be included in the liquidation estate of a bankrupt, may not be arrested due to any actions or inaction of the leaseholder, except for the cases determined by law.

New rules of inspection by the National Bank of Ukraine of the compliance with the rights of financial services consumers

On June 16, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) adopted Resolution No. 52 “On Approving the Regulation on Supervision by the National Bank of Ukraine over the Compliance by the Participants in Financial Services Market with the Legislation on the Protecting the Rights of Financial Services Consumers” (hereinafter referred to as the “Regulation“).

The Regulation provides for carrying out supervision by the NBU in the form of off-site supervision and inspection. The NBU will monitor the following information from financial institutions:

• information, contracts and documents posted in the branches and on websites of financial institutions;
• advertisement of non-banking financial services, except for the stock market;
• appeals of financial services consumers, in particular appeals of companies, as well as complaints and applications (motions) of attorneys in the interests of companies, to the NBU regarding violations of the legislation on protecting the rights of financial services consumers;
• internal documents of participants in the financial services market on protecting the rights of financial services consumers and the legislation on advertisement;
• information from open sources.

Administrative penalties may be imposed on the officers of financial institutions for violation by the financial institutions of the legislation on protecting the rights of financial services consumers. At the same time, penalties or enforcement actions are stipulated for a financial institution in such a case, including suspension or cancellation of a license, discharge of management, etc. The Regulation shall come into force on July 14, 2021.

The government extended the quarantine and revised quarantine restrictions

Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (CMU) No. 611 “On Amending Certain Acts of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine” (hereinafter referred to as the “Resolution“) came into force on June 17, by which the government extended the quarantine in Ukraine until August 31, 2021.

The Resolution establishes the “green” level of epidemic danger on the territory of Ukraine providing for the following quarantine restrictions:

• foreigners and citizens of Ukraine are allowed to enter Ukraine subject to the availability of a negative PCR test or express antigen test taken 72 hours before crossing the state border, or a document confirming full course of vaccination with vaccines approved by the WHO;
• citizens of Ukraine and foreigners entering Ukraine will not be subject to self-isolation hence no need to install the Vdoma mobile application when returning from abroad to Ukraine;

In case of “green” level of epidemic danger, the mask regime remains mandatory for public transport, during mass events, cafes, restaurants and entertainment establishments (night clubs), cinemas, etc. However, there are no restrictions as to the working hours of establishments.