Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Tax innovations under Christmas tree

Ksenia Obukhovska

Rada adopted two government-proposed tax bills / atn.ua

One December night, along with the adoption of the state budget 2017, the Ukrainian Parliament approved amendments to the Tax Code. Despite the fact that new approaches of tax policy were being worked out for a whole year, the businesses were informed of some major innovations right New Year’s eve. UNIAN tried to figure out what awaits the taxpayers in Ukraine in 2017.


On the night the budget was passed, to ensure the balance of budget indices, the Verkhovna Rada adopted two government-proposed tax bills. The amendments to the Tax Code, contrary to this very Code, were adopted and entered into force in 10 days instead of a required six-month period.

So it has developed historically, that the Rada adopts on the Cabinet-proposed decisions on tax rules to be applied in the coming year as late as on New Year's Eve. Such a rush in passing bills on tax changes cannot but affect the investment climate in the country. After all, while the business expects stability and predictability of tax rules, it sees the amendments on New Year’s Eve instead, as usual.

At the same time, the Ministry of Finance since spring has been working on the project of tax reform, which was supposed to improve tax environment and to reduce the level of corruption in fiscal agencies. Changes were being prepared in a transparent way, as all interested parties were invited to join the debate. In early November, the Government submitted the appropriate changes to Parliament, but the deputies only managed to adopt the bill with plenty of edits at the end of the year.

A number of core provisions disappeared from the bill, which were the base of the finance ministry’s reform. However, a number of important amendments that should make the taxpayers’ life easier have been adopted...







No comments:

Post a Comment