«Everyone will pay»: Hetmantsev on new taxes on income received via the Internet — will bring in UAH 10 billion annually

The Ministry of Finance has prepared a new draft law on the taxation of Ukrainians’ income. If passed, popular online services – such as those that order taxis, food delivery, or find handymen – will automatically deduct 10% of their users’ income.

This means, for example, that for every UAH 1000 earned by a taxi driver or courier, UAH 100 will be immediately deducted from the budget. About the tax initiatives of the Ministry of Finance said Danylo Hetmantsev («Servant of the People»), Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Taxation and Customs Policy.

Hetmantsev says that now all these drivers, couriers, repairmen, etc. have to file declarations and pay taxes themselves — 18% personal income tax and 1.5% military fee. But, according to the MP, almost no one does this. And the tax authorities have almost no tools to control this.

But this does not mean that nothing will happen. If someone receives income and does not report it, they always risk getting into trouble — the tax authorities have the right to act.

What does the new draft law of the Ministry of Finance propose?

The idea is this: platforms like Uber or Glovo will withhold a smaller tax themselves — 5% personal income tax and 5% military duty — and transfer this money to the budget. This means that a freelancer or driver will no longer have to calculate anything themselves, as the service they work through will do everything.

These digital platforms will become «tax agents». And this is relate to both Ukrainian companies and foreign ones if they operate in Ukraine. Mr. Hetmantsev says that so far, businesses are not protesting the law, so it could be passed in the next few months.

According to estimates, the state could receive up to UAH 10 billion annually. Although in reality, it may be even more.

There is another part of the bill that concerns online marketplaces — such as OLX, Prom, or Rozetka. According to MP Nina Yuzhanina, it is planned that these platforms will also transfer data on their sellers to the tax authorities — regardless of how much they earn. These services will also be tax agents — that is, they will withhold taxes from individuals’ incomes and transfer them to the budget.

Hetmantsev confirmed this ideabut said that the Ministry of Finance has not yet submitted this draft law to the Verkhovna Rada, and it may be amended. He promised that the law will definitely take into account the situation of people who simply sell their old things — there should be a tax-free minimum for them.

Earlier, the Ministry of Finance reported that the government wants all services such as taxis, rental housing, and online shopping to collect data on users’ incomes and transfer them to the tax authorities.

Meanwhile, the tax office is already working in this direction. It checks entrepreneurs and ordinary citizens who regularly sell goods online and receive money on their cards. The inspections have been particularly active since March this year. The tax office receives information from the system of payment transaction registrars (PTRs) and sees who is constantly earning money online.

For example, they check:

• people who often sell something and receive money on their cards but are not officially registered as entrepreneurs;
• entrepreneurs who work without a cash register — although they should have one.
• In the first 20 days of March alone, the tax authorities identified tens of thousands of such cases.

At the same time, the governmentplans to increase taxes for individual entrepreneurs to 17%and complicate «simplify».

Source: censor