People’s Deputy Oleksandr Fedienko shared a clarification from the National Commission for State Regulation in the Spheres of Electronic Communications, Radio Frequency Spectrum, and Postal Services, according to which the specialized regulator of electronic communications outlined the restrictions that exist for Internet providers.
People’s Deputy Oleksandr Fedienko shared a clarification from the National Commission for State Regulation in the Spheres of Electronic Communications, Radio Frequency Spectrum, and Postal Services, according to which the specialized regulator of electronic communications outlined the restrictions that exist for Internet providers.
«Internet providers have every right to „simplification“!» Oleksandr Fedienko emphasized in a post on social networks, adding screenshots of the NKEK decision.
According to the explanation, which refers to the provisions of the Tax Code of Ukraine (paragraph 4 of subparagraph 2 of paragraph 291.4 of Article 291), the restriction on engaging in Internet access services is provided only for individual entrepreneurs in the second group of single tax payers.
In addition, the document added that the types of activities in the field of electronic communications provided for in the Indicative List may not coincide with the KVED (Classifier of Types of Economic Activities), and such coincidence or its absence does not create rights and obligations for business entities and there are no legal consequences of this.
«I understand that each regulator has its own position and can interpret the laws in its own way. But, something tells me that if we have hundreds of court decisions in favor of business, the profile regulator also supports this opinion, but other state structures do not agree, then it is a matter of time before the wind you are writing against will turn in your face,» the People’s Deputy adds.
According to Fedienko’s position, in order to avoid double interpretation, it is necessary to immediately abolish the practice of manual control, or accept the interpretation written by the regulator and the courts, or amend the legislation.
In early March 2024, information appeared that the State Tax Service had appealed to the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine with a proposal to consider the issue of abolishing the simplified taxation system (STS) for Internet providers.
Already on August 1, 2024, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Tax Policy, Danylo Hetmantsev, issued a warning to Internet providers, stated that due to the «gray» Internet business, Ukraine has large tax shortfalls, and added that the state has tools to bring business «to its senses.»
On the same day, Mykola Kucheruk, director of the Internet provider Elite-Line from Kramatorsk, published a lengthy response to Danylo Hetmantsev, in which he indicated that the chairman of the committee had provided inaccurate figures.
The next day, in response to Hetmantsev’s request, the Internet Association of Ukraine (InAU) appealed to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy with a request to protect the «legitimate rights of small businesses in the electronic communications industry.»
Later, Mykola Kucheruk, together with his colleague Volodymyr Kucheruk, published their own analysis of the Ukrainian telecom sector with arguments why the top four market players are attacking small and medium-sized businesses.
On August 20, 2024, a petition appeared on the website of the President of Ukraine asking to prevent the abolition of the simplified taxation system for Internet providers. The petitioner claims that the State Tax Service is illegally forcing small and medium-sized providers to switch to the general taxation system, and suggests that a planned campaign is being waged against them.
From October 1, 2024, the tax authority introduced a ban on applying the simplified taxation system for small Internet providers. As a result, during August-October 2024, 1,316 entities submitted information to the National Commission for Economic and Financial Stability (NCEF) about the cessation of activities .
In March, Danylo Hetmantsev reported a significant increase in taxes from providers in the 4th quarter of 2024. According to him, in some cases they increased by 3–4 times.
There are already specific decisions for individual Internet providers regarding the ban on working on the simplified taxation system. In particular:
