IMF agrees to postpone ‘tax benchmark’ for a month

The International Monetary Fund has given Ukraine another month to fulfil one of the key benchmarks required by the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme, Gavin Gray, head of the IMF mission in Ukraine, told a briefing in Washington, per Ukrinform.

• Subscribe to LIGA.net in English on Twitter

Mr Gray said the bill providing for the return of the pre-war tax regime must be adopted by the end of July.

This benchmark, which was supposed to be fulfilled by 1 July under the agreement with the IMF, has become the most difficult for Ukraine so far.

The relevant bill provides for the abolition of the 2-percent tax regime for sole proprietors (FOPs), the return of tax audits for businesses, and fines for non-use of cash registers (PTRs).

Those provisions have caused resistance among MPs, leading to the bill passed only in the first reading so far.

Mr Gray further added that by the end of July, the Ukrainian parliament should resume electronic asset declarations for public officials, as was originally envisaged by the IMF programme.

At the end of September, the benchmark is returning of ‘lifelong’ financial monitoring of politically exposed persons instead of the three-year one, but with the introduction of a risk-based approach in line with FATF standards.

The IMF also expects Ukraine to adopt structural framework legislation in December to strengthen the institutional autonomy of the specialised anti-corruption prosecutor's office.

"These are all important reforms," the IMF representative said.