Shareholders and farmers must not be afraid of land tax – the Ministry of Finance

Increased rates of land tax will not increase the tax burden on farmers, the Ministry of Finance say.

Increased rates of land tax will not increase the tax burden on agricultural producers, since most of them are fixed agricultural tax payers and do not pay land tax on the land, which they use for production. The appropriate clarification by the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine is published on the MOF website. In particular, it states that the proportion of cultivated land that is not subject to tax is 61% of the total stock of farmland. Also, the Ministry of Finance note that, according to the Tax Code, individuals – land shareholders that rent out their shares are exempt from land tax.   However, the Ministry expect that increasing rates of land tax will promote rational use of land resources, and improve socio-economic conditions of local councils. The MOF also emphasize that the initiative to increase rates of land tax is under discussion and the Ministry is ready to consider all comments and suggestions to this bill.

January 18, the Ministry of Finance proposed as of January 1, 2014 to triple the tax rate on plots of agricultural land (regardless of location). The relevant draft law "On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine (regarding fees for land)" is published on the Ministry’s website. The document proposes to increase the tax rate per 1 ha of agricultural land for arable, hayfields and pastures from 0.1% to 0.3% of the normative value. It is also proposed to increase the tax rate per 1 ha of agricultural land for perennial plants from 0.03% to 0.09% of the normative value.

Source: UNIAN, photo by Serhiy Hudak