News date: 26 June 2020
Nina Bets, a lawyer at Ilyashev & Partners Law Firm, delivered a speech on “Introduction of Reasonable Economic Reason Criterion in Ukrainian Law. International Standards and Application in the EU” at the VII International Tax Forum, organized by the Yurydychna Praktyka Publishing House on 23-25 June 2020.
In her speech, Nina Bets noted that recent changes in Ukrainian tax legislation have expanded the concept of reasonable economic reason (business purpose) in terms of transactions with non-residents.
“Taxpayers should prepare themselves for the plainly required business plan and marketing strategy, which will justify how the costs will increase capital in the future”, – said Nina Bets.
The practice of EU member states demonstrates that a taxpayer cannot take advantage of the benefits provided by the Double Taxation Agreement if the taxpayer has not passed the transaction’s main purpose test. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development recommends that the tax authorities should study the business behavior of the parties to determine how consistently the taxpayer adheres to its business strategy and whether today’s costs will have an economic effect in future.
The participants of Forum also discussed changes in the rules of controlled foreign companies, the procedure for withdrawal of companies from the composition of risky taxpayers and amendments to the Tax Code.
VII International Tax Forum is a specialized annual event for the heads of tax practices, lawyers, attorneys, legal advisers and government officials.