Published 26 July 2018. Some rules have changed since; ask us for the current position.
Gas prices stay unchanged until September
A minister has announced that the price of gas will stay at its current level until 1 September. The decision was taken at a meeting on 26 July.
A month earlier, in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the need to raise gas prices had been discussed. Many will remember that Ukraine had a hard time from July 2017, with difficult negotiations with the IMF over gas.
The Fund firmly insisted that gas prices for households be raised. Estimates put the increase at 30% or even 60%. This was seen internationally as the best option, but the Prime Minister said such a sharp rise would cause widespread discontent and scandal, and so postponed it.
A government representative said the Ukrainian side had offered the IMF eight different options for setting the gas price, all designed to avoid high prices for ordinary people. The Prime Minister believes the increase the Fund is demanding would be unbearable for households.
The Fund, however, is standing its ground, and its demands are very tough on ordinary people. Under the agreed conditions, Ukraine was to receive a loan tranche in return for the price rise. Ukraine did receive the tranche, but the conditions were only partly met.
In June an IMF representative said that if Ukraine did not meet the conditions of the previous agreements, the current review of IMF support would be turned down.
The Government now has to find a way out of the situation. For now, the gas price will not change until 1 September.
A tax return filed late means a penalty
Taxpayers often ask about penalties in situations where a company loses control of its own management, commonly known as a corporate raid or seizure. Management then has no access to its systems, and tax returns cannot be filed on time. Every taxpayer knows that paying tax or declaring income late means paying a penalty.
Article 102.6 of the Tax Code of Ukraine (Податковий кодекс України) allows the filing deadlines to be extended so that the taxpayer can prepare a tax return and submit it to the tax authority. This option is available only in special cases.
Under the same provision, no penalties are charged for late filing during the extended period.
Article 126 of the Tax Code provides for other penalties, but they do not apply to tax liabilities that were agreed within the set time limits.
These two exceptions allow a taxpayer to file a return and pay tax late without penalties. The law provides for no other special cases. So if a taxpayer fails to file a return with the tax office on time and does not settle their liabilities, they will have to pay a penalty and bear liability under the law.
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