Legislative news digest: LEGAL HOTLINE 26.07.2017

THE MANDATORY USE OF SEALS WAS CANCELED

On July 19, 2017, the Law No. 1982-VIII “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Regarding the Use of Seals by Legal Entities and Sole Proprietors” entered into force. The Law cancels the mandatory use of seals on documents for legal entities and sole proprietors.

From now on, a seal may not be a mandatory requisite of the document which is being submitted to a public authority on behalf of an economic entity.
Documents are considered to be reliable, provided they are signed by an authorised person or personally by a sole proprietor.

Herewith, if a state authority demands to put a seal on the document, this entails administrative liability in the form of a fine of 50 to 100 tax-exempt minimums of the citizen income (UAH 850 – UAH 1700).

PURCHASING FOREIGN CURRENCY TO BE TRANSFERRED ABROAD IS POSSIBLE ON THE BASIS OF AN E-LICENSE

In its letter No. 40-0005/48633 of July 13, 2017, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) clarified that e-license, on the basis of which an individual has the right to transfer foreign currency in total amount of up to USD 50,000 per year, may be the grounds for purchasing foreign currency.

For this purpose, in the requisites of application for the purchase of foreign currency one needs to specify the following grounds for the purchase of foreign currency in the interbank foreign exchange market: “individual electronic license of the National Bank of Ukraine”, “e-license of the National Bank of Ukraine”, or similar.

In other words, it is allowed to file an application to an authorised bank for the purchase of foreign currency without specifying the particular electronic license number and the date of its issue.

Moreover, it is possible to file an application for obtaining an electronic license to an authorised bank either in the form of a paper document certified by the individual’s signature, or in the form of an electronic document signed by the electronic digital signature.

EMPLOYERS WILL RECEIVE COMPENSATION FOR EMPLOYMENT CREATION

Ukrainian employers creating employment will be granted compensation from the state budget in accordance with the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of July 19, 2017 “On Amendments to the Budget of the Pension Fund of Ukraine for 2017”.

The Government has allocated current year expenditures of the state budget in the amount of UAH 1,400,000 by way of delegating the power to implement the budgetary program on “Compensating an Employer for a Part of Actual Expenditures Related to Payment of a Unified Social Tax for Compulsory State Social Insurance” from the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine to the Pension Fund of Ukraine (PFU) and increasing the PFU’s budget revenue and spending by the specified amount.

This step will allow ensuring payment of compensation to employers for their actual expenditures related to the payment of the Unified Social Tax (UST) of 50% of the amount of the unified tax accrued for each person employed in accordance with Part 3 of Article 24 of the Law “On Employment of the Population”.

AGRARIANS WILL RECEIVE FINANCIAL SUPPORT

UAH 65,000,000 will be distributed among agrarians, who have expressed their desire to participate in the budgetary program on “Granting Loans to Farming Enterprises”. Loans are provided in the amount of up to UAH 500,000, and farming enterprises undertake to repay the loan within the timeframes specified in the agreement, but not longer than in 5 years.

Submission of farming enterprises’ requests and documents for participation in the competitive selection will last from July 18, 2017 to August 16, 2017 inclusive.
Farming enterprises shall not be eligible to participate in the competition, if: they are indebted to the Ukrainian State Farmers Support Fund (Ukrstatefund) and its regional offices; they have been declared bankrupt; a bankruptcy action has been commenced against them; they are in the process of liquidation; facts of their illegal receipt and/or misuse of budgetary funds have been revealed.

The selection of participants shall be carried out by the competition committee of the Ukrainian State Farmers Support Fund.
The list of documents to be submitted for participation in the competition is determined by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 1102 of August 25, 2004 (amended).