According to Deputy Minister of Finance Svetlana Vorobey, not all Ukrainians know how to properly use the services of the Tax Service to submit returns. Therefore, the new approach will relieve taxpayers from the obligation to independently declare income.
They want to implement the universal declaration in Ukraine using the example of the Baltic countries. If the reform takes place, the tax office will independently declare the taxpayer’s income using bank data and only then coordinate this with the taxpayer himself. Deputy Minister of Finance Svetlana Vorobey said this during the discussion of the National Income Strategy at an event of the Center for Economic Strategy.
Important
He explained that not all Ukrainians will be able to declare their income, since not everyone has access to electronic services of the Tax Service. Additionally, not everyone has the skills to use online tax services.
“Therefore, the strategy includes an area such as preliminary declaration, that is, tax declaration of individuals based on their income data. This is the European direction,” he said.
According to him, in this case the declaration becomes an agreement on what the tax authorities calculate.
“And that will be the path to a joint declaration,” Sparrow said.
To implement this approach, the Tax Service must gain access to data on bank accounts. The Ministry of Finance does not consider this a violation of banking secrecy.
“We are not trying to eliminate bank secrecy. The strategy aims to provide additional opportunities for tax authorities to have information about taxable income, but to limit the possibility of additional pressure on business,” said Svetlana Vorobey.
One possible option is to give banks tax agent status.
National Income Strategy: What future reform requires
On December 27, 2023, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted the National Income Strategy, a framework document for the implementation of reforms in the tax and customs fields. The changes are planned to be phased in until 2030. The National Strategy reveals the general directions of change. The Ukrainian Ministry of Finance points out that the key to the strategy is consistency, in which the state first provides the necessary conditions for carrying out fundamental reforms and then gradually implements them.
Important
As the Interfax-Ukraine agency writes, the National Income Strategy, among other things, provides that the tax service has the opportunity to check all taxpayers’ bank accounts. The Cabinet is also considering re-establishing the progressive scale of personal income tax rates (NDFL). That is, the modern fixed rate of 18%, which appeared in Ukraine in 2016, will be abolished instead of the slightly increased rate, whose rates are at the level of 15% and 20%.
Let us remind you that on September 5, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine voted in the second reading to reintroduce electronic declaration. Representatives of the authorities will submit statements for 2022 and 2021.
Source: Focus
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