Parliament to oblige tech giants to pay taxes in Ukraine

The Verkhovna Rada is going to put in place a mechanism that will oblige the world tech giants operating in Ukraine to pay taxes to the budget of Ukraine.

The relevant bill n° 4184 is to be considered in the first reading at the sitting of the Verkhovna Rada on January 27, as Radio Svoboda reported.

As to the chairman of the parliamentary committee on finance, tax and customs policy Danylo Hetmantsev, the bill does not introduce a new tax, but provides a convenient form of value added tax for digital giants and multinational corporations that provide electronic services in Ukraine.

“We have a completely unacceptable situation when corporations that earn a lot of money in Ukraine do not pay taxes at all. Ukrainian companies operating in Ukraine and providing similar services pay tax, while foreign companies do not.

We have discussed this bill with Facebook officials and other companies and will discuss it before the second reading. We know that Facebook pays such a tax in more than 20 countries around the world, including the EU, Japan and Russia, ” Danylo Hetmantsev told Radio Svoboda.

According to Hetmantsev, Ukraine can receive UAH 3 billion a year from online advertising services alone.