Ukraine: Changes of transfer pricing rules from 1. January

published on 25 January 2018

At the end of 2017 the Parliament and the Governement of Ukraine have passed many legislative changes which became effective from January 1, 2018. The key changes in the transfer pricing area are the following.

Transactions between a nonresident entity and its Ukrainian permanent establishment (a branch carrying out business operations in Ukraine) exceeding UAH 10 million in value shall be considered as controlled transactions for transfer pricing purposes. This change may in the first instance affect Ukrainian branches of foreign companies involved in large-scale construction and infrastructure projects in Ukraine and receiving funding from their head offices.

The list of low-tax countries which serves transfer pricing purposes has been expanded by 19 new countries and territorites, including, among others, Estonia, Latvia, Malta, Georgia, Hungary, UAE, Singapore and others. The transactions of Ukrainian companies with the counterparties which are registered or resident in the countries from the list are subject to special tax anti-avoidance restrictions and are considered as controlled transactions.

The advance pricing agreement procedure was updated. The APA may now be executed with retroactive effect. If the taxpayer breaches the APA, it terminates from the date on which it became effective. The extension of an APA is now possible.

The date from which the fiscal authorities may request transfer pricing documentation was changed from 1. May to 1. October of the year following the reporting year. This date is now in line with the date of filing of the annual transfer pricing notification (report on controlled transactions).

The new provisions were added which clarify that the changes in the list of low-tax countries and the list of legal form of non-residents take effect from 1. January of the next year.

The above changes are already effective. As for the possible developments in 2018, the Finance Ministry of Ukraine has already announced that signing of the Multilateral Instrument and implementation of the BEPS four minimum standards (Actions 5, 6, 13 and 14) are among the key goals for 2018.