Chief tax officer Oleksiy Lyubchenko / Photo from State Tax Service's press service
Some US$2.3 billion was wired to Ukraine via money transfer systems.
Head of Ukraine's State Tax Service Oleksiy Lyubchenko says that most of Ukrainian migrant workers do not pay taxes, including social security tax, and to fight this type of tax evasion, banking secrecy must be cancelled.
He shared his opinion in a comment on taxation in Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian media outlet Censor.net.
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"Both the NBU [the National Bank of Ukraine] and our agency see this information: US$12 billion in transfers arrived from abroad. Of the amount, US$2.3 billion was wired via money transfer systems, that is, it should definitely be included in the [income] declaration. But a mere UAH 11 billion [US$388 million] was declared, which is 96.7% down from US$12 billion," Lyubchenko said.
"Although, when the pandemic broke out, the situation became special – all the workers returned home. To their home town with roads, schools. [Their] parents, children live there. Yes, they [send money to] feed their families, but they only pay for their simple reproduction. And what about expanded [reproduction]? After all, taxes and fees mean schools, pensions, hospitals," he said.
According to Lyubchenko, for the tax authorities to start fighting against tax evasion committed by Ukrainian labor migrants, it is necessary to control bank accounts.
"I am all for disclosing banking secrecy. Isn't it obsolescent? ... But the situation is striking: any country in the world, any bank abroad responds to our request to provide any information regarding the movement of funds on accounts, but the local ones do not. Yet, I see no risks," the chief tax officer said.