Ukraine submits National Revenue Strategy roadmap to IMF
MOSCOW. Aug 22 (Interfax) - Ukraine's government and Finance Ministry drew up a roadmap for preparing the National Revenue Strategy for 2023-2024 and forwarded it to the International Monetary Fund as part of their commitments under the Extended Fund Facility with the IMF, head of the Ukrainian parliament's Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy Daniil Getmantsev said.
"The roadmap has already been sent to the IMF. Regular systemic missions are being carried out with the IMF to outline areas for reform," Ukrainian media quoted Getmantsev as saying in a statement to Ukrainian journalists.
The strategy, which is being synchronized with the European integration process, covers the entire period up to 2030, but there are some measures that can be undertaken now, and there are measures that can be implemented only after the crisis is over, he said.
"Digitalization of the tax system and introducing a risk-based approach to its operations are measures that should be implemented and are being implemented now," he said.
Certain successes have already been scored in this regard: the functions of the taxpayer's electronic account have been broadened significantly, the tax office pre-fills individuals' declarations, a service that has already been used by more than 100,000 taxpayers, a new contract center has been opened, a mobile application is ready to be launched, and e-audit and e-excise software is being developed, Getmantsev said.
When commenting on the roadmap for the National Revenue Strategy, Getmantsev said that it envisages changes in the employment and personal income taxes, the introduction of measures to prevent the erosion of the tax base in accordance with recommendations from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, steps to align Ukraine's tax legislation with the European Union's, including unification of indirect taxes, such as the excise tax and value added tax.
There are also plans to reform the environmental tax, i.e. focusing on taxing CO2 emissions instead of taxing local emissions, as it is done today, he said.
"It is also the reform of the simplified tax system. As an example, we'd like to use a small business taxation pattern that is used in the EU. We are currently considering Poland to become this model that could function in Ukraine," he said.
The plan is to introduce individual models for restructuring the tax debt of individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises, Getmantsev said.
A separate major section of the National Revenue Strategy deals with tax administration, he said.
"And here we ought to focus on the introduction of a tax risk management system. In other words, the organizational system of the Tax Service itself may be modified, i.e. expanding its analytical departments through downsizing the departments that are responsible solely for oversight of taxpayers' activities," Getmantsev said.
The National Revenue Strategy is expected to be adopted in October, he said.