Parliament approved the agreed by the Government and the coalition first laws of the reform package

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted first laws of the reform package that had been agreed by the Government of Ukraine and the coalition of the parliamentary factions.

The Parliament has adopted amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine and certain laws of Ukraine regarding a tax reform; a law on measures to stabilize the balance of payments of Ukraine in accordance with article XII of the General agreement on tariffs and trade 1994;a law on amendments to the Customs Code of Ukraine to stabilize the balance of payments; amendments to the Budget Code of Ukraine concerning a reform of interbudgetary relations, as well as amendments to the Tax Code to improve tax control over transfer pricing.

While presenting the agreed bills in the Parliament, the Prime Minister of Ukraine stressed that changes to the Tax Code would enable, on the one hand, to introduce a fair taxation system, on the other - to fill the budget, "It will not bear a corruption component and won’t do any problems for small and medium business".

The amendments to the Tax Code reduce the number of taxes from 22 to 9, as well as tax rates for small and medium business are cut and a moratorium on inspections of small and medium business is introduced for two years.

The Head of Government stressed that the law still contains high rates, "in effect nowadays concerning taxation of rents on oil, gas and other minerals".

Arseniy Yatsenyuk also emphasized that the current legislation “provides an opportunity to avoid paying taxes for the most profitable businesses."

Instead, the offered by the Government and agreed by the coalition the law on transfer pricing "imposes taxes and brings out from the shadows principal oligarchic businesses”.

The law also envisages "a serious financial responsibility of those who violate the tax law" - a fine for undeclared operations in the reports and for the failure to submit the reports is increased, "If you have not filed a report, you have a penalty - 200 minimum wages. But if you avoid, then you have a penalty of 5% of the transaction amount".

The PM informed that the law introduces to apply on a permanent basis a method of comparative uncontrolled price for each controlled operation of export and import of goods with stock quoting. "A list of stock exchanges for each group of goods - and these should be international stock exchange markets - is determined by the Government."

The Budget Code was adopted, with certain refinements, which were submitted by the profile VR Committee and agreed by the Government. Arseniy Yatsenyuk addressed to instruct the Budget Committee in synergy with the main legal Department of the Verkhovna Rada to make the necessary editorial changes taking into account the points, which the Prime Minister read as the transcript.