2682 Carpathian business entities transferred 275 million UAH of the environmental tax to the budget for environmental pollution during January – August 2020. Of the total amount of the state treasury revenues, namely 163.5 million UAH was paid; local budgets received 111.6 million UAH of the environmental tax. This was reported by Main Directorate of the STS in Ivano-Frankivsk region.
Procedure for collecting the environmental tax is regulated by Articles 240-250 Section VIII of the Tax Code. According to Paragraph 240.1 Article 240 of the Code, the environmental tax payers are business entities, legal entities that do not conduct economic (business) activities, budgetary institutions, public and other enterprises, institutions and organizations, permanent establishments of non-residents, including those who perform agency (representative) functions in relation to such non-residents or their founders, during whose activities on the territory of Ukraine and within its continental shelf and the exclusive (marine) economic zone, in particular, emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere by stationary sources of pollution. Herewith, Paragraph 240.7 Article 240 of the Code defines that entities specified in Paragraph 240.1 Article 240 of the TCU are not taxpayers for carbon dioxide emissions, namely those that emit such emissions in the amount of not more than 500 tons per year. If the annual amount of carbon dioxide emissions exceeds 500 tons per year, entities are required to register as taxpayers in the tax (reporting) period when such excess occurred. Such taxpayers are obliged to prepare and submit tax reporting, accrue and pay tax for the tax (reporting) period when such excess occurred, in the manner prescribed by the Code.
The object and basis of environmental tax taxation are the volumes and types of pollutants emitted into the atmosphere by stationary sources (Paragraph 242.1 Article 242 of the Code). Herewith, the environmental tax base for carbon dioxide emissions according to the results of tax (reporting) year is reduced by amount of such emissions in the amount of 500 tons per year (Paragraph 242.4 Article 242 of the Code).
The form of the Environmental tax declaration is approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine as of 17.08.2015 № 715 with changes and amendments. Annexes (calculations) are an integral part of the Declaration, particularly the calculation of pollutants emissions into the atmosphere by stationary sources of pollution is carried out in Annex 1 to the Declaration.
In order to establish the business entity’s fact of excess defined in Paragraph 240.7 Article 240 of the TCU of the maximum amount of carbon dioxide emissions, such entity must take measures to perform an inventory of such emissions in manner prescribed by the law.
The environmental tax payers declare tax liabilities for carbon dioxide emissions for the amount of such emissions exceeding the maximum amount, starting from the reporting (tax) period when the maximum amount of such emissions was reached in a separate Annex and submit to the supervisory authority at the location of stationary sources.
Please note that the tax preference on the basis of Paragraph 240.7 Article 240 of the Code regarding the non-payment of tax liabilities for carbon dioxide emissions in the first 500 tons of emissions applies in total to emissions of all stationary sources owned or used by the environmental tax payer – business entity.