Ukrainian residents have to declare all money transfers they receive from abroad, and pay a 15 percent tax on it, income ministry said this week. The government cannot access personal banking information, except by court order.
“Any
residents of Ukraine who get money transfer from a foreign country,
be it from a company or from a private person, is to incude the
transfer in the tax return and pay 15 per cent tax for the transfer
less than Hr 11,470 and 17 per cent tax for a
bigger amount. The only exception is when a resident of Ukraine is
abroad and sends money to his or her own bank account in Ukraine,”
says Olga Pryhodko, head of the information department of Ministry of
Income and Tax.
Ukrainians
have to fill in tax returns only if
they receive additional income on
top of their regular salary. Declaring the
extra income is voluntary, but if Income Ministry finds any
traces of undeclared money transfers the person will either
received an official warning, or will be
fined by up to Hr 136 for failure to
declare extra income.
The
reminder from the government to declare money
transfers comes shortly after the National Bank
of Ukraine revealed that Ukrainians who live and work abroad sent
$7.5 billion back home in 2012, including over $1 billion illegally
in cash.
“In
2012 the value of private money transfers to Ukraine from abroad grew
by 7.2 per cent and stood at $7.5 billion,” reads a
recent statement of the National Bank.
There
are an estimated 3 million Ukrainians working abroad, Sergiy Tigipko,
the then minister for social issues, said in September. But
in today’s edition, Kommersant
newspaper estimated the number of immigrant workers at 1.2
million.
Money
transfers from abroad exceeded direct foreign investments to Ukraine
in 2012 which stood at $6 billion, according to the State Statistics
Committee. Most of the foreign investment comes from Cyprus, which
until recently was a popular offshore destination for Ukrainian
businessmen.
Most
of the private transfers, about 70 percent, came from Russia, USA,
Germany, Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Britain, reflecting the geography
of destinations where Ukrainians seek better employment.
The
National Bank said that the share of Ukrainians who prefer to send
money back home in cash is growing. While 43 percent of the money was
send directly via banks, 13.9 per cent arrived to Ukraine illegally
in cash. For comparison, in 2011 Ukrainians sent $963 million
illegally in cash.
Kyiv
Post staff writer Svitlana Tuchynska can be reached at
[email protected]
