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Ukrainian entrepreneurs hope that the value-added and profit taxes will decrease to 10% and salary taxation will decrease to at least 20%.
Ukraine managed to turn its gambling business into a large and efficient taxpayer. In just the first five months of this year, companies operating online gaming businesses paid four times more taxes than in 2022, the Bureau of Economic Security (BES) reported. As of June 1, these companies have paid more than UAH 2.2B, while for the whole of 2022, this amount did not exceed UAH 550M. These results were achieved due to the cooperation between the BES, the SBU, the Prosecutor's Office, and the National Bank of Ukraine in detecting tax evasion schemes. The most common scenario is miscoding, when the payment code that belongs to gambling transactions is not indicated, but an adjacent one, on which taxes are much lower. As a result, online casinos paid only UAH 34.5M in taxes for 2021. In 2022, after the investigation, the amount increased to UAH 549.7M. The miscoding scheme was organized by officials of several banks, where one of the main banks processed approximately UAH 20B. The amount of unpaid taxes exceeds UAH 1.3B.
The gaming business paid almost UAH 3B in taxes in the first half of 2023. Ukraine's gambling industry paid UAH 2.94B ($82M) in taxes in January-June 2023, which is 1,300 % more than in the same period of 2022, said the head of the Temporary Investigative Commission on Economic Security, Yaroslav Zheleznyak. He clarified that UAH 562M was collected in June, which is UAH 100M more than in March when companies also paid income tax. In addition, on Wednesday the Ukrainian online casino PIN-UP Ukraine reported UAH 1.067B in budget payments in the first half of this year, where UAH 524.7M came in the first quarter, and UAH 519.2M in the second. The company clarified that this amount also includes UAH 23.4M for the gambling license that Ukr Game Technology LLC received in 2021.
Ukraine has returned to pre-war tax rates for fuel and other oil products.
Since July 1, fuel taxes have returned to the pre-war level: VAT up to 20%, the excise tax on gasoline up to €213, and diesel fuel €139.5 per 1,000 liters. Thus, after-tax refunds, the VAT rate on petroleum products will increase from 7% to 20%, the excise tax on gasoline will rise to €213 per thousand liters, and diesel fuel will increase to €139.5. However, the excise duty on liquefied gas will not change and amount to €52. According to Serhiy Kuyuna, director of the A-95 consulting group, the tax burden on gasoline will increase by UAH 11 per l liter, diesel fuel by UAH 8 per liter, and liquefied gas by UAH 3 per liter. As well, these prices will also depend on the purchase price of petroleum products, most of which are imported. Ukraine imports 80-85% of its gasoline, 100% of its diesel, and 60-70% of its gas.
6.1.3 Budget dynamics - funding
Ukraine's state budget has received $890mn from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) Arrangement, the Finance Ministry reported on July 3.
Ukraine expects at least $37B in international aid in 2024. In 2023, Ukraine expects $42B in international assistance, and next year it expects at least $37B, said the head of the NBU, Andriy Pishnyi, during an interview for ICTV. He says Ukraine's budget deficit is at 26% of GDP. "First, we balance the
35 UKRAINE Country Report August 2023 www.intellinews.com