The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine extended the period of martial law and general mobilization for 90 days until February 19, 2023 in accordance with the adopted draft law No. 8189 "On the approval of the Decree of the President of Ukraine "On the extension of the period of martial law in Ukraine" and draft law No. 8190 "On the approval of the Presidential Decree of Ukraine "On extending the term of general mobilization".
On November 1, Order No. 360 of the Ministry of Finance approved the procedure for inspections of the controlling person.
It is envisaged that this procedure was developed for use by officials of controlling bodies during documentary checks of controlling persons, who are natural or legal persons - residents of Ukraine, who are direct or indirect owners (controllers) of a controlled foreign company (CFC). The subject of the verification of the controlling person is the timeliness, reliability, completeness of the calculation and payment of income tax or personal income tax, military levy, as well as compliance with the legislation, the control of compliance of which is entrusted to the controlling bodies, and which is carried out on the basis of tax declarations (calculations), reports and notifications on controlled foreign companies, other forms of reporting, documents and information specified, in particular, in paragraphs 75.1.2 PKU.
The duration of such an inspection should not exceed 6 months.
On November 1, the President of Ukraine signed Law No. 2597-IX (European integration normative act) on amendments to auditing activities in Ukraine.
According to the explanatory note, the draft law defines the following changes :
1. changes were made to the definitions of the terms of Art. 1 of Chapter 1 of the Law "On the Audit of Financial Statements and Audit Activity" ;
2. additional requirements for auditors and audit firms on business reputation are established, namely in Part 6 of Art. 5 of Chapter 1 of the Law "On the Audit of Financial Statements and Audit Activities" states the following - "6. An audit firm must have a good reputation. The registration of an audit firm that has lost a good reputation in the Register is canceled on the basis of a corresponding decision adopted in the manner specified by this Law ";
3. added additional Article 22 1 to Chapter 5 of the Law "On the Audit of Financial Statements and Audit Activity" regarding the grounds for canceling the registration of auditors and subjects of audit activity in the Register;
4. specified information that must be contained in audit reports based on the results of a mandatory audit of the company's financial statements;
5. defined and clarified powers of the Body of Public Supervision of Audit Activities (BPSAA) regarding the formation of the Supervisory Board and the Quality Assurance Inspection of BPSAA;
6. reducing the cost of conducting exams and improving qualifications, namely Part 12 of Chapter 4 of the Law "On the Audit of Financial Statements and Auditor Activities" - "12. For passing each theoretical or qualification exam, a fee is paid in the amount determined by the certification commission, but no more than one the minimum wage established by law on January 1 of the reporting year.... In case of enrollment in the exam, the fee is not paid ;
7. the provision of audit services is prohibited in certain cases, if the auditor, the subject of audit activity, its key audit partners, its owners (founders, participants), officials and persons involved in the provision of audit services :
a) are owners of financial instruments issued by a legal entity whose financial statements are subject to audit or have a significant and direct interest in receiving benefits from a legal entity, an entity without the status of a legal entity to which audit services are provided, or a legal entity associated with such a legal entity jointly owned, controlled and managed by a person, except for those belonging to such a legal person indirectly through joint investment institutions;
b) participate in operations with financial instruments issued, guaranteed or otherwise supported by a legal entity to which audit services are provided, except for operations within the framework of joint investment institutions;
c ) were during the periods indicated in the first part of this article in labor, contractual or other relations with a legal entity to which audit services are provided, which may lead to a conflict of interests";
The Chairman of the Committee, Danylo Hetmantsev, also noted that this act increases the role of professional organizations, as certain powers are delegated to them (professional training and quality control).
November 3 Diya app has launched a program through which it will be possible to check notarial documents that contain a QR code. This method not only speeds up the process of checking a notarial document, but also provides reliable protection against forgeries, due to the fact that electronic copies of documents are stored in the e-notary system.
At the moment, with such a code, notaries can form documents such as a power of attorney, a vehicle rental agreement and a statement certifying the authenticity of the signature. ( QR code can be applied both on a notary form and on white paper).
How to check a document with a QR code through Diya?
· The authorized person comes to the institution with a paper notarized power of attorney with a QR code. For example, to the bank to open an account for you.
· A bank employee reads a QR code with a scanner in Diya.
· A request for receiving an electronic copy of such a document will automatically open on the employee's screen. All he needs to do is click the Send button.
· Both you and your proxy receive the request at the same time. One of you must confirm it in Action.
· After that, the bank employee receives a notification confirming the request. Downloads an electronic copy of the document, checks it and can open an account for you.
Changes to the regulations on registration of vehicles and obtaining licenses have entered into force, which will come into force on December 14, 2022.
The law defines the following :
1. the possibility of issuing electronic documents for driver's licenses and vehicle registration certificates online to replace the old option for issuing such documents through service centers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs ;
2. December 14, in the case of registration online, filling in forms before the registration procedure is not necessary ;
3. documents that are received online and that appear in the Diya application or the Driver's Electronic Cabinet completely replace physical documents ;
4. digitization of documents simplifies registration and processing of documents.
On November 16, the President of Ukraine signed Law 2736-IX on the prevention and countermeasures against the legalization (laundering) of criminal proceeds, the financing of terrorism and the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, on the protection of the financial system of Ukraine from the actions of a state that carries out armed aggression against Ukraine, and adaptation of legislation to individual FATF standards and the requirements of EU Directive 2018/843.
As stated in the explanatory note to the draft law, the following is envisaged :
- expand the list of high-risk clients who are residents of the Russian Federation and/or whose activities are related to it;
- to include oligarchs in the list of clients to whom the subjects of primary financial monitoring (SPFM) are obliged to establish a high risk of business relations;
- to exclude persons ( subject to sanctions ) from the list of clients, with respect to whom there is a high level of risk;
- to expand the features of a threshold financial transaction in which one of the participants in the transaction is a person of the Russian Federation ;
- to expand the list of specially defined SPFM by persons who carry out trade activities in cultural values, dealers in works of art and intermediaries in such activities and business entities that provide intermediary and/or consulting services regarding the leasing of real estate, and to establish that state regulation and supervision of such persons in the field of prevention and countermeasures is carried out by the Ministry of Finance;
- eliminate the limiting factor of applying financial sanctions to the SPFM;
- to expand the signs of an impeccable business reputation with the absence of a criminal record for criminal offenses against the foundations of national security of Ukraine, against peace, security of humanity and the international legal order;
- non-admission to the leadership and management of the SPFM of persons who have the citizenship of the Russian Federation ;
- release SPFM from responsibility for violation of requirements in the field of prevention and countermeasures in case of finding such SPFM in the territory of hostilities and/or temporarily occupied territories;
- establishment of the obligation for subjects of primary financial monitoring to report to the State Financial Monitoring on threshold transactions with subjects related to the Russian Federation ;
- shortening the term of politically significant persons (Politically Exposed Persons) from life to three years after the position.
On November 16, the President of Ukraine signed the Law No. 2698 - IX on the restoration of the system of registration of lease rights for rural land plots designated before the introduction of military rule and improvement of land protection legislation.
According to the explanatory note, the law proposes the following :
· to resume conducting land auctions for the transfer into use of agricultural plots of state and communal property;
· to restore the registration of lease rights to agricultural land plots in the State Register of Real Property Rights, which was stopped due to the war;
· to establish the right to place biomethane production facilities as part of agricultural complexes on agricultural land plots without changing the intended purpose;
· cancel the need to compensate agricultural losses in the event of a change in the purpose of agricultural land plots;
· regulate the issue of entering the State Land Cadastre with information on the qualitative characteristics of land, measures for the protection of land and soil, restrictions on the use of land;
· establish that citizens and legal entities who have received the right to permanent use of land plots of state and communal property, but in accordance with the Land Code of Ukraine cannot be the subjects of such a right, can buy such land plots with installments of payment or lease them with specified terms of such agreements;
· to allow, under martial law, the free privatization of land plots on which privately owned buildings and structures are located, as well as land plots that were transferred to citizens for use before the Land Code of Ukraine enters into force;
· to enshrine at the legal level the right of JSC "Ukrzaliznytsia" to carry out construction on land plots that are in its permanent use, not only with its own funds, but also with borrowed funds;
· to make changes to the laws of Ukraine "On topographical, geodetic and cartographic activities", "On regulation of urban planning activities" regarding the creation and functioning of the cartographic and geodetic fund of Ukraine.
On November 21, the President of Ukraine signed the Law No. 2719-IX on the privatization of state and communal property, which is in tax lien, and ensuring the administration of tax debt repayment.
According to the explanatory note to the bill :
- it is proposed to supplement Article 92 of the Tax Code of Ukraine with a new clause establishing that in the case of alienation in the process of privatization of state or communal property, which is in a tax lien, as part of a single property complex of a state or communal enterprise, the consent of the controlling body for the alienation of such property is not required, if the contract the purchase and sale of the object of privatization stipulates the obligation of the buyer to repay in full the amount of the tax debt, in connection with which the right of tax lien arose, no later than six calendar months from the moment of transfer of ownership of the object of privatization;
- state or communal property that is alienated as part of a single property complex of a state or communal enterprise is not released from the tax lien until the tax debt is fully repaid by its buyer (it is provided that in the above-mentioned case the provisions of clauses 92.1 - 92.3 of Article 92 of the Tax Code of Ukraine do not apply);
- it is proposed to supplement Article 98, establishing that in the case of sale in the process of privatization of a single (integrated) property complex of a state or communal enterprise or other objects of state and communal property - the buyer acquires all rights and obligations regarding the repayment of the tax debt of the state or communal enterprise , which remained unpaid at the time of transfer of ownership of the privatization object. At the same time, it is provided that in the event that the buyer repays the amount of the tax debt in full and within the period specified in the sales contract, but no later than six calendar months from the date of conclusion of the sales contract, fines and interest, provided for in Articles 124 and 129 of this Code , such paid amounts are not applied (not accrued), and applied ( calculated) amounts are subject to cancellation ;
- it is proposed to add a provision to the Law of Ukraine "On Notaries" stating that the absence of the consent of the controlling body for the alienation of property that is in tax lien is not a reason to refuse notarization of a contract of sale concluded in the process of privatization of a single property complex of the state or a utility company or other objects of state and communal property ;
- it is proposed to add a provision to the Law of Ukraine "On the Privatization of State and Communal Property" stating that the lack of consent of the controlling body for the alienation of property subject to a tax lien is not an obstacle to the sale of a single property complex of a state or communal enterprise or other state objects and communal property in the manner established by this Law, and is not a reason to refuse notarization of the contract of sale of such property. The tax lien remains valid for the buyer of the object of privatization and is terminated in accordance with the procedure established by the legislation of Ukraine ;
- restoration of the deadlines for taking measures to repay the tax debt of taxpayers - business entities that have the opportunity to fulfill tax obligations in a timely manner;
- exemption of controlling bodies from payment of court fees in matters related to collection of amounts of agreed monetary obligations of taxpayers.
