News date: 26 January 2018
Vitali Galitskihh, the Head of Tallinn Office of Ilyashev & Partners Law Firm, delivered a speech on “Jurisdiction and Tax System of Estonia – Performance Competition” at the Business Forum “Estonia – an Innovative Platform for International Business”, held on January 25, 2018 in Kharkiv. The forum was organized by the Enterprise Estonia (EAS), the Estonian Embassy in Kyiv and the Ukrainian National Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC Ukraine).
Talking about tax-related aspects of doing business in Estonia, Vitali Galitskihh noted that the Estonia’s overall economic environment allows attracting additional funds and finding new solutions for the business development on more favourable terms as compared to other EU countries. According to Vitali Galitskihh, the advantages of doing business in Estonia, inter alia, are as follows: the comfortable business environment and a low bureaucracy level, low cost of business registration and operation, ease of doing business, the possibility of online management of a company from any place whatsoever, filing tax declarations through the Internet, the lack of restrictions on international bank payments, the absence of currency controls and the flat tax scale.
Commenting on a decision of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to include Estonia in the list of states the transactions with the counterparties of which shall be subject to control under the Transfer Pricing Law, Vitali Galitskihh noted that Estonia was included in this list by mistake, and expressed his conviction that the Ukrainian competent authorities will reconsider their decision in the very near future, since the tax policy of Estonia – the member of the EU and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) – meets all international requirements and standards.
The Ambassador of the Republic of Estonia to Ukraine Gert Antsu, the Regional Director in Central and Eastern Europe of the Enterprise Estonia Yaan Heinsoo, the representatives of ICC Ukraine, Ukrainian and Estonian companies have also taken the floor at the forum.
Established in 2000, Enterprise Estonia (EAS) promotes business and regional policy in Estonia and is one of the largest institutions within the national support system for entrepreneurship, providing financial assistance, counselling, cooperation opportunities and training for entrepreneurs, research institutions, the public and non-profit sectors.
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is an influential independent self-governing non-profit international organization founded in 1919, uniting chambers of commerce, business organizations and individual companies with the aim of development of international trade standards, joint protection of interests before the international organizations and resolution of commercial disputes.