Ukraine will strengthen control over import of phones, electronics and jewelry

Single tax payers who sell in Ukraine imported jewelry, watches and electronics will have to use cash registers with parallel account of the cost of acquisition of such goods. However, without strengthening of border control and effective anti-corruption activity the schemes will retain their appeal.
The Cabinet has submitted to the Parliament draft amendments to the Tax Code number 11404. It introduces a number of measures for "proper control" over the sale of goods of foreign manufacture.
Regulatory authorities will be paying close attention to I-III groups tax payers who trade highly realizable imported goods – jewelry, watches, home appliances, computers and mobile phones.
They will be obliged to use registers of cash transactions, and entrepreneurs who are not subject to VAT will also have to keep track of the cost of acquisition of such imports. Availability of a copy of the customs declaration certified by the declarant will be mandatory, writes "Kommersant-Ukraine".
In the explanatory note to the bill authors justify the increased control over the single tax payers due to the fact that it is enterpreneurs who sell the illegally imported goods to final consumer. And in Ukraine highly realizable goods come because of liberalization of import customs procedures.  
The State Customs can not estimate the amount of gray market of highly realizable goods.   However, the press office of the State Customs noted that most often they try to illegally import computers, laptops, tablets and phones.
According to the chairman of the Association of Jewellers of Ukraine Dmytro Vydolob, government accusations are ungrounded. "For our industry duty-free limits are not important, the goods come with declarations."
"When I hear such accusations of entrepreneurs, I have no words – Chairman of the Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises "Yednannya" Natalia Kozhevina is outraged. – Large companies launder money, and the government does nothing about them, but puts the blame on single tax payers. So it will do nothing except increasing of the tax burden on small and medium business."
According to the president of the Association of Electronics Business Yuri Chaika, the control through cash registers will solve the problem only partially. Besides the import of goods by natural persons there are other opportunities for corruption in the import – much larger by volume and cost of goods.
The attractiveness of illegal imports is explainable, adds the board member of the Association of Customs Brokers Boris Maharychev. A "gray" importer is exempt from VAT and customs duties, and also sells such goods in Ukraine at a price above the base cost – all that makes it possible to obtain big profits. And a legal importer spends 30% of direct costs to pay taxes," – said the broker.
According to experts, the problem of illegal imports lies not only with enterpreneurs. Without strengthening of the border control and effective anti-corruption campaign the schemes will retain their appeal. According to estimates, the cost of customs officer’s services depends on the price of the goods, their characteristics and the complexity of their import scheme. Nevertheless, the official’s cut is at least 10% of value of goods.
Earlier Igor Kaletnik said that they also planned to create a uniform system of accounting and control of goods between the tax and customs. According to him, this system will ensure full transparency of internal trade, protect the rights of legal manufacturers, make a large-scale smuggling, counterfeit and marketing of such products impossible.

 ZN.UA