White and black lists of initiatives

 

TOP 10 priorities for the Ukrainian business in 2022-2023

 

Economic recovery and development:

1. To implement a set of measures for economic recovery and keep jobs and business in Ukraine, in particular:
   • Introducing a state program to guarantee war risks insurance and providing the Ukrainian insurance companies with access to reinsurance (allowing foreign currency payments) to form war risk packages;
   • Working out efficient economic stimulus to facilitate revival of regions;
   • Oblige the Cabinet of Ministers to promptly define and publish the list of territories where hostilities are (were) conducted or temporarily occupied by the armed unites of the russian federation according to the Law of Ukraine No. 2120 On amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine and other Legislative Acts of Ukraine due to martial law;
   • Implementing transparent and efficient mechanisms for compensation for the loss of property to the civilians and business;
   • Working out an efficient mechanism for travelling outside Ukraine for business trips for business owners, employees and Individual-Entrepreneurs;
   • Improving the mechanism of liability for collaboration, clear distinguishing between forced entrepreneurship in the occupied territories and aiding the aggressor state;
   • Amending the Law On judicial fee and inclusion of legal entities and individual-entrepreneurs affected by military actions in the list of entities exempt from judicial fees;
   • Working out an open mechanism for distribution of international aid between regions;
   • Keeping tax residency for Ukrainians temporary displaced abroad;
   • Encouraging the Ukrainian business to switch from the russian to the Ukrainian software;
   • Analysing the situation in the Ukrainian regions and apply special legal regimes of economic and investment activity in the most damaged regions;
   • Deploying the demining program in the deoccupied territories.

Institutional reforms:

2. Institutional reform of supervisory, regulatory and law-enforcement authorities: personal liability of officials, reforms in wage and pension system of public state service, to ensure risk-oriented approach to inspections of business entities, public control over open competitions to key positions in the governmental bodies, including:
   
   • Ensuring the implementation of the Action Plan of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on reforming the customs service, ensuring the exchange of customs information with different countries, and working out quality performance indicators to evaluate the performance of the State Customs Service. Reset the State Customs Service, electing the head in open competitions with the participation of international experts, re-assessment of employees – draft law No. 6490д;
   • Reset the Economic Security Bureau, electing a chairperson in open competitions with the participation of international experts, re-assessment of employees – draft law No. 9080, working out quality performance indicators to evaluate the performance of the Economic Security Bureau;
   • Reset the Tax Service, electing a chairperson in open competitions with the participation of international experts, re-assessment of employees, working out quality performance indicators to evaluate the performance of the State Tax Service.

3. Control over implementation of judicial reform – revival of the High Qualification Commission of Judges, and reset the High Council of Justice, as well as adoption of legislative acts as a basis for resetting the District Administrative Court of Kyiv (adoption of law drafts No. 5067, No. 5369, No. 5370 is required).

4. Ensuring inclusive dialogue between the government, business and society, mandatory consultations with business representatives (the procedure will be set forth by clear representative criteria) in the course of adopting regulatory and tax amendments, necessity to perform cost-benefit analysis when registering any draft law with the Verkhovna Rada.

Tax system and customs legislation reform:

5. Fundamental reset of tax legislation by adopting provisions of the Development Tax Code containing provisions on replacement of income tax with capital withdrawal tax; reduction of combined tax burden on the wages fund to the target value of 25%; tax subsidy (split IIT and assign a certain amount to parties and non-governmental organization) – draft law No. 7500; SMKOR – setting a deadline for tax invoice blocking, proper enforcement of court decisions on tax invoice blocking and compensation for damage to enterprises for evasion of fulfilment of demands of court by the State Tax Service; increasing the threshold for mandatory registration as a VAT payer and linking the indicator to the minimum wage; simplification of Controlled Foreign Companies (CFC) administration; raising the threshold for mandatory registration as a VAT payer up to 400 minimum wages; modification of the land tax, with compensation by reducing inefficient state budget expenditure (reduction of national expenditures to 35% of GDP after the martial law decreed lifted.

Additionally:

• Optimising and making transparent the procedure for administrative appeal of tax decision notifications by a taxpayer by including independent reputable experts from among auditors and tax lawyers in the ‘appeal commission’;
• Introducing criminal liability for managers and employees of the State Tax Service for manual interference with automated tax administration systems (primarily VAT and Excise).

6. Updating customs legislation, including ensuring availability of a single tariff scale for all customs offices, which is filled with data from the leading specific business associations; ensuring mandatory availability of trademarks in import of goods (draft law No. 5353-1) and legislative binding of monetary valuation to international stock prices in scrap metal export.

Ensuring possibility to parcel recipients to pay customs duties and VAT online without intermediation of customs brokers and contacting customs; minimising shadow schemes through duty-free shops and postal services; simplifying international trade, etc.

7. Retaining the simplified taxation system, promoting lawful micro and small business, and introducing simplified taxation of the self-employed. Cancellation of total fiscalisation of the 2nd and 3rd groups of the simplified taxation system, application of fiscalisation only for certain risky groups of taxpayers who have a significant risk of exceeding the Single Tax limits (risky groups are defined only by the Law of Ukraine); minimisation of abuses – introduction of mechanisms to encourage purchaser to receive a fiscal receipt; ensuring liability for unregistered traders. Correcting the ambiguous wording in the Law On Cash Registers which currently enables tax authorities to impose fines for violations committed during the martial law, – after the martial law decreed lifted.
   

Demonopolisation of economy and deregulation:

8. Demonopolisation of payment service market – regulation of acquiring rates. Implementation of European Directives (draft law No. 5734).
   Demonopolisation of creation of e-services by the state only (except for socially significant services).

9. Defining cross-sectoral monopolies in the coal and electric power markets and the conditions for their forced separation, stimulating gas production and simplifying access to gas production. Ensuring equal access of participants in related markets to goods and services of natural monopolies, including electricity, water and gas supply, and introduce a private traction market (draft law No. 1196-1). Ensure the independence of regulatory bodies, in particular the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine and the National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Public Utilities by defining their legal status and guaranteeing the financial independence of their employees.

Levelling the playing field, protection of Ukrainian producers, deregulation:

10. Implementing a range of measures aimed at de-bureaucratisation, deregulation, promotion of domestic and foreign fair competition, including:
    • Implementation of the Economic Safety Strategy 2025 and the National Economic Strategy 20320, including to improve the Law On Public Procurement, to level tender conditions on ProZorro for VAT payers and non-payers, to establish the institution of experts, to ensure public control in public procurement, to speed up the digitalization of the Ukrainian economy, to establish efficient joint-stock and debt capital markets in Ukraine, and derivative contract market;
    • Prompt and transparent privatisation of the state property, including: open public sale of state-owned stake of Ukrnafta, PJSC; carry out the sale of shares of SE UkrGasVydobuvannya of the NJSC Naftogaz to private investors and open public sale; open public sale of 50%+1 shares of the state-owned stake of Ukrzaliznytsia, JSC; forced open sale of assets of extracting and power-producing companies above the monopoly thresholds (demonopolisation) through the IPO procedure; privatisation of all district heating companies; public sale of state shares in all regional heating companies.
    • Cancellation of excessive regulation of business activity, development of market relations, including adoption of the draft law No. 5473 to improve the market surveillance.
    • Mechanism improvement of public-and-private partnership, procedure speeding up (draft law No. 7508), the possibility of public-and-private partnerships in information technology (in particular, in terms of creating electronic services) to be enshrined in the Ukrainian legislation.
    • Implementation of advance labour law based on the free employment agreement, extension of the Law 2434-IX On the simplified regime for small and medium-sized businesses on a permanent basis, but not only during the wartime.
    • Ensuring real investigations by the AMCU of abuse of monopolistic position by companies/natural monopolies;
    • Legislation update on self-regulatory organisations
    • Strengthening trade protection of manufacturers, in particular: ensure financial and institutional conditions for industrial ecosystems creation; improve the investigation procedures for trade protection (anti-dumping, anti-subsidy and special/protective investigations); simplify access to domestic manufactures to the natural resources (raw materials) and intensification of their processing by using advance technologies; strengthen institutional capability and independence of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine;
    • Ensure efficient discussions between the central governmental authorities, local self-government bodies, the public and business representatives regarding implementation of investment programs within the framework of regional development strategies funded by the international financial institution
    • Speeding up the ACAA with the EU (on Certificate of Conformity recognition);
    • Making the non-governmental organisations and enterprises free from unnecessary reporting on ultimate beneficiaries if such information is already available in the register (draft law No. 6131-2).
    • Eliminate corruption risks and increase transparency in copyrights;
    • Simplify conditions for obtaining licence for construction, or at developer’s choice – simplified declarative licensing procedure;
    • Minimize the number of permits and licences (draft law No. 8058), in particular cancel the table wine whole trade and beer trade licence;
    • Create positive stimulus for production and export of goods with significant added value, in particular to provide access to the cheap financial resources for their production, to extend the duty-free and quota-free trade regime with the EU, etc. Encourage strategic investors – adopt the draft laws No. 8138 and No. 9015 as amended for the second reading;
    • Cancellation of VAT and customs duties on import of production equipment and spare parts for production equipment during the martial law and for the period of recovery;
    • Maintaining the current incentives for the IT industry, in particular, keep to VAT exemption for software supply transactions, as well as software transactions the payment for which is not considered royalties;
    • Provide transparency for public procurement during the wartime (draft law No. 8381).