On January 16, the Ukrainian Agri Council (UAC) held a round table, where agricultural producers and representatives of the State Fiscal Service (SFS) discussed proposals for VAT exemptions for supply operations in the customs territory of Ukraine and the export of grain crops in the customs regime, oilseeds and vegetable oils.

Within the framework of the event, the parties came to a common understanding of the problem and agreed to cooperate in the future. Agrarians and SFS representatives discussed the causes of the consequences of the initiative and concluded that such a move would lead to significant damage to the agrarian sector. According to the estimates, the loss of agrarians will amount to about UAH 50 billion, as they will be deprived of the right to tax credit for the raw materials purchased, fertilizers, fuel and lubricants, plant protection products. This violates legal rights and interests of taxpayers.

According to the results of the round table, the parties agreed to hold a meeting to find a compromise in resolving this issue.

"Let's appoint a specific day to have a meeting with you, during which we will exchange the calculations and start cooperation in a different key that will bring specific fruits to the budget," – concluded the discussion the deputy head of the UAC Mikhail Sokolov.

"We are in favor of fruitful dialogue with agrarians. I will ask all the associations to prepare the questions for further discussion at our meeting ", - said Director of the Audit Department of the SFS Natalia Ruban.

In addition, representatives of the SFS promised to examine the provisions of the draft law on the minimum tax liability of 1 hectare of land, developed with the participation of the UAC. The purpose of this bill is to equalize the tax burden between officially operating enterprises and those working in the shadow. During the round table it was stated that its adoption will promote the unshadowing of the domestic market of agricultural products.

The fact is that one of the motives of the Fiscal Service's proposal for the abolition of VAT for grain and oil products is the active use by unscrupulous agricultural producers of tax evasion schemes in the field of agriculture and lack of revenue from the State Budget of Ukraine. Thus, the SFS offered at the expense of farmers to offset failures in the fight against tax fraud - the issue of a fictitious tax credit (so-called "twists"), including in part due to the poor performance of the Automatic Monitoring System for compliance of tax invoices with the criteria for assessing the degree of risk.

At the round table farmers said that they always supported the fight against the shadow market of agricultural products and "twists", but this should not be countered by the destruction of the agrarian sector.