Anti-crisis measures: The Council approved the law

The Ukrainian government adopted the Law "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts to Provide Supplementary Social and Economic Guarantees in Relation to the Distribution of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-2019)" (Bill of 29.03.2020 of No. 3275). Its purpose is to support business and citizens for the duration of restrictive quarantine measures.

Business supporting measures:

• continue the moratorium on non-tax audits until June 30;
• Until May 31, the exemption from penalties and penalties under the ERU will apply, as well as a moratorium on checks on it;
• The deadline for filing tax and ESV complaints will continue until May 31;
• Renters who cannot use the real estate or other property through quarantine will be exempted from paying the rent; · Will increase the limits for FOPs. The new limits for 1st, 2nd and 3rd groups of "simplified legal persons" will be 2 million, 5 million and 7 million UAH, respectively; · The land payment is canceled only for March 2020;
• Postpone submission of reports and statistical information to the controlling bodies. Also, in connection with the quarantine of economic entities obliged to publish the financial statements for 2019 or the consolidated financial statements for 2019, provide for exemption from penalties for violation of the deadline for submission of such statements;
• Remove restrictions on the receipt of only one state support for the development of SMEs.

In addition, the changes involve a number of interventions for medicine. In particular, for the uninterrupted supply of the necessary medicines, the circulation of specialized drugs and medicines aimed at combating coronavirus will be exempted from VAT. And manufacturers of disinfectants will be temporarily released from the obligation to register products in the Ministry of Health so that everyone can start their production quickly.

Manufacturers of medicines will receive zero-excise duty alcohol with a tax bill, which will ensure full control over the targeted use of such alcohol and will reduce the cost of disinfectants; · Keeping the valid validity period up to 30 days for the commercial verification of VAT declarations filed for tax refund, while the duration of the commercial audits for other tax returns will increase up to 60 days after the last day of their filing deadline.

Measures for supporting citizens:

• Guaranteed payment of social assistance, extension of the terms of application for social assistance and terms of its payment. This is how they plan to ensure the automatic continuation of social payments for the quarantine period - at this time there will be no need to go to specialized bodies or to pass commissions to extend the payment period;
• Regulation and simplification of the introduction of flexible working time regime, teleworking in labor legislation;
• Introducing the concept of partial unemployment for the time being of this quarantine. Employee support will be provided to employees when saving their jobs. Amount of assistance - up to 1 minimum wage. The cost of the initiative is approximately UAH 5 billion;
• Temporary exemption from fines and penalties for consumer loans taken up to 2017, as well as a ban on banks raising interest rates on all credit agreements.