NEWS

When foreigners come to Ukraine with a tourist visa or under a visa-free regime, it can happen that they get carried away and overstay the allowed period of time. Tourist visa contains a definite validity period, on the last day of which you have to leave the country. Citizens of countries with which Ukraine has a visa-free regime may stay for three months in Ukraine. This period counts from the day they entered Ukraine. On the last day of the allowed three months they have t

When buying property in Ukraine, everyone has to pay 1% of its price to the Ukrainian Pension fund. However, if it’s your first property - you are entitled for a refund of that amount. It has to be paid upfront because without it the notary will not approve your contract. In order to receive the refund of that 1% which was paid to the Pension fund, you will need to do the following: Submit a request to the Pension fund You will most certainly get a rejection and will have to

On 30 November the Ukrainian Parliament adopted a new Law “On the amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine and other laws regarding the balanced budget income” (No 5600). The main goal of this law is to make big businesses pay income taxes. The Minister of Finances Sergiy Malchenko said that this law will not change anything for small and medium businesses. Also those who use the state support programs of “Accessible loans 5-7-9%” and “Accessible mortgage” will be exempt from th

Sometimes it happens that clients have quite unrealistic expectations about what a lawyer can do to protect their interests. Some people think that lawyers have a magic wand that makes all problems go away in an instant or prevent them from happening at all. In some cases this might lead to a misunderstanding, therefore here is a short explanation of what lawyers actually do: Lawyers give legal evaluations of current situations of their clients and provide an advice on the ne

Divorce can be tough and very traumatising. It is often so that parents cannot continue communicating with each other and the child is deprived of that opportunity as well. One of the parents for example doesn’t allow the child to see its mother/father. However, it has been recognised by the Ukrainian Supreme Court that a child should be raised by both parents and that seeing both of them regularly has a positive effect on its development. Therefore, it should be kept in mind

In our previous post we explained who has the right to initiate laws and what happens when they are first submitted to the Parliament (https://en.demidont.com//post/how-laws-are-made-the-right-to-initiate-laws). After several Parliamentary committees have reviewed the initiated laws, the relevant committee in charge has to prepare a conclusion on the relevance for such new law to be included into the Parliamentary agenda. As some more checks on the formalities of the legislat

According to Article 91 of the Constitution of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Parliament is the only state body with the power to adopt laws. These are the parties that have the right to initiate laws: The President of Ukraine Members of Parliament The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Laws can be initiated by submitting the following proposals to the Parliament: Projects of new laws Proposals to existing laws Amendments to existing laws The project of a new law has to be signed by the

Ukraine has been making many efforts in recent years to make its business climate more attractive for investors. However, a lot remains to be done. There are literally 256 082 legally binding documents governing every aspect of life in Ukraine. Among them - more than 5 000 that can potentially have an impact on doing business. This is way too much, right? Starting a business, acquiring all the necessary licenses, permits, subsidies, participating in tenders, paying taxes, arr

Yesterday Ukraine marked the Day of the Ukrainian Defenders. For several years already there has been no compulsory mobilisation. And while the international military aid for Ukraine has not entailed the physical presence of foreign combatants - however, Ukraine greatly relies on volunteers. Here is what a foreigner can expect when he joins the Ukrainian army as a contractor: You can stay in Ukraine if you have served three and more years in the Ukrainian army You also get a

France and Greece have announced that vaccinations against SARS-CoV-2 will be mandatory for healthcare workers and the UK is also considering such a policy. Compulsory vaccination is an interference with the human right of bodily integrity, which is a part of the right to private life enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as in the European Convention on Human Rights. However, not every interference with this right is automatically illegal. The legali

It’s quite easy to register an NGO in Ukraine. All you have to do is just follow five steps: Prepare the Statutes of an NGO Conduct the gathering of founders Prepare the necessary documents Submit the documents Receive a confirmation of registration Step 1. Prepare the Statutes of an NGO The NGO Statutes is the main document, which defines your organisation: what internal rules does it have, who controls it and what happens to its assets. Online you can find the statutes temp

According to Article 33 of the Constitution of Ukraine, everyone, who legally resides on the territory of Ukraine, is granted the freedom of movement, freedom of choice of the residence place, freedom to leave the territory of Ukraine, except for restrictions, established by law. The procedure of leaving the territory of Ukraine and temporary restriction thereof are regulated by the Law of Ukraine “On the procedure of leaving and entering Ukraine for Ukrainian citizens”. In A

After filing the tax declarations for 2020, everybody who works in The Netherlands, gets a preliminary decision on their income tax and social security payments. The preliminary amount has to be paid usually by August, after which the tax office makes a definite decision and in some cases, pays some amount back, while in other cases - you might have to pay even more. Different tax rules apply to business owners and employees. In this post we will focus on the employees. It is

Nobody likes to pay taxes and it’s understandable. However, there are several countries in the world that have no income tax for its citizens at all. These countries are: The Bahamas Bahrain Brunei Cayman Islands Kuwait Maldives Monaco Nauru Oman Qatar Saint Kitts and Nevis Somalia United Arab Emirates Vanuatu Western Sahara Some countries have very low income taxes for businesses: Northern Macedonia: 7.4% Qatar: 11.3% Kuwait:12.8% Bahrain: 13.5% Lesotho: 13.6% Saudi Arabia:

Demidont and partners works together with a Dutch law firm Erga Omnes on cases within the European Union. The Netherlands are very attractive for doing business. It has a very dense market with numerous opportunities for profitable investment projects. The most suitable legal entity form for operating in The Netherlands is a Private Limited Company (BV - Besloten Vennootschap). This is the closest Dutch version to a Limited Liability Company. You don’t even have to be physica

If you are planning to stay in Ukraine more than 90 days - you will need a residence permit. In order to obtain it it’s necessary to have an address registration. What will you need in order to arrange an address registration? Find an apartment to rent Make sure the landlord allows address registration Sign a rent contract in two copies (be sure to keep one for yourself, the second one is for the landlord) You can register your address at the Center for administrative servi

Are you thinking of moving to Ukraine? You might want to look into the employment rules that will apply to you. Every foreigner or stateless person who has a permanent residence permit or a refugee certificate has the right to be employed in Ukraine. This means that apart from work you already have a valid reason to stay in Ukraine. In all other cases the employer has to ask for permission to hire foreigners for each specific vacancy from the state employment service. H

Foreigners are very limited in their rights to purchase land in Ukraine. They can buy only two types of land: Any land within the territory of the city, except for agricultural land Land outside the territory of the city (except for agricultural land) under the condition that there is immovable property situated on such land, which belongs to the foreigner. Therefore, foreigners may buy only such land, which is directly permitted by law. In order to purchase land in Ukrain

If you decide to set up a company in Ukraine - you will need employees. There are several steps you will need to take in order to get it done: 1. Arranging an order of employment (the official decision of the employer to employ somebody) 2. Signing an employment contract with the employee (in two copies) 3. Informing the fiscal authority about hiring the employee These are the necessary documents for signing an employment contract: 1. A valid passport or other identificatio

Laws in Ukraine can be very tricky and they are scattered around hundreds of thousands of legal acts. It can take hours of reading the norms of different codes and executive acts to determine whether something you are signing can be considered valid. We will save you some time and suggest a few tips to follow in order to conclude a perfect agreement with your counterparty. Tip 1 Carefully read the agreement a few times before signing it. Take your time to study every p