📝On January 31, 2023, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, signed the law on the use of electronic money in Ukraine.
The law regulates the circulation of electronic money, and also equates users’ electronic wallets with bank accounts.
What is the concept of “electronic money”?
The Law of Ukraine “On Payment Services” Art. 1 defines that electronic money is “units of value stored in electronic form, issued by the issuer of electronic money for payment transactions (…), which are accepted as a means of payment by persons other than their issuer, and are a monetary obligation such issuer of electronic money”.
The peculiarity of Ukrainian electronic money is that its issuer can only be a resident bank, therefore, today PayPal, WebMoney and other systems cannot directly be issuers of electronic money.
Among the Ukrainian payment systems in which electronic money is issued, the following are the most common: Maxi, Global Money, Prostir (NSMEP), electronic wallets on Visa, MasterCard cards.
It is worth noting that electronic money and cryptocurrency are different concepts, they should not be confused.
What does the new law provide?
The law relieves businesses of the obligation to provide in paper form the originals of supporting documents for operations with corporate payment cards (within 30 days), providing the possibility of submitting supporting documents in electronic form.
Previously, the electronic version of documents was not accepted by the tax service, and business representatives do not always have the opportunity to submit documents physically within 30 days.
It will be possible to pay taxes and fees, utilities (if the service provider accepts them), pay for shipped goods (work performed, services provided) with electronic money. But we are talking about single tax payers of groups I-III.
The procedure for reporting on employee business trips is simplified – if the employee does not withdraw cash, only an account statement and supporting documents (if available) are needed; it is necessary to report to the Tax Office on the condition that the accountable person uses cash (except for daily expenses). Such a report can be drawn up arbitrarily (however, there must be mandatory details specified by law) and submitted in paper or electronic form.
The term for relicensing payment service operators was also extended from February 1 to May 1, 2023.
During the war, the circulation of electronic money in Ukraine will be limited, so it will be possible to take advantage of such opportunities after the abolition of martial law.
