President Volodymyr Zelensky signed the law on taxation of electronic services of non-residents, which was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on June 3. This is reported President's office.
This law obliges international companies to pay VAT for the provision of electronic services in Ukraine. In many countries of the world, such a tax was called the "Google tax".
"The document defines a special procedure for taxation of non-resident companies providing electronic services to persons living on the territory of Ukraine. This will allow to increase revenues to the state budget from VAT.
Such taxation rules are already becoming a common practice in foreign countries, for example, in the countries of the European Union, Australia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, etc.," the message says.
The Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Tax Policy, Danil Hetmantsev, believes that the state budget will annually receive about UAH 3 billion from the technological giants Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Netflix and others in the form of taxes.
At the same time, many experts criticize this initiative. They believe that now Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Netflix, etc. will simply raise the prices of their products and services for Ukrainians by the same 20% (at the rate of VAT).
Responding to this criticism, the author of the law, Dmitry Hetmantsev, says that the tax payer is not determined by the tax formula, but by the ratio of supply and demand at a specific historical moment.
"In one case, the seller can accept the payment of the tax on himself, and in the other - transfer it to the consumer. I don't want to shock you, but profit tax is also paid by the consumer, so these statements are considered manipulation. Only the fact that you and I have to pay value-added tax on milk and meat, and not on Facebook's advertising services, is not considered manipulation," he said.
The law states that foreign companies that provide electronic services to Ukrainians will be required to register as VAT payers according to a simplified procedure through a special electronic service, if the total amount from the implementation of the relevant operations exceeds UAH 1 million per hour. Non-residents will make simplified reporting in electronic form in the state or English language.
At the same time, according to the document, operations for the supply of distance learning services via the Internet are exempt from VAT if this network is used exclusively as a means of communication between the teacher and the student.
