State Tax Service of Ukraine, in order to provide business entities with a high-quality and timely services in licensing production and circulation of certain excisable products according to requirements of the Law of Ukraine № 3817-IХ as of 18.06.2024 “On state regulation of production and circulation of ethyl alcohol, alcohol distillates, bioethanol, alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, tobacco raw materials, liquids used in electronic cigarettes and fuel” (hereinafter – Law № 3817), including before entry into force of the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “Some peculiarities of maintaining unified registers of licensees for production and circulation of ethyl alcohol, alcoholic distillates, alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, tobacco raw materials and liquids used in electronic cigarettes, licensees and places of fuel circulation according to which application forms for obtaining licenses, maintaining unified registers of licensees, and providing extracts from such registers, informs.
Section VII of the Law № 3817 on licensing came into full force from January 1, 2025, which particularly provides:
1) List of licensing authorities and types of licenses, where a separate license is granted for each type of economic activity (Article 41 of the Law № 3817):
for a right to produce ethyl alcohol, alcohol distillates, bioethanol, alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, liquids used in electronic cigarettes and fuel;
for a wholesale of ethyl alcohol, alcohol distillates, alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, liquids used in electronic cigarettes, fuel;
for a retail sale of alcoholic beverages, tobacco products and liquids used in electronic cigarettes;
for a retail fuel sale and fuel storage, fuel storage exclusively for the needs of own consumption and/or industrial processing.
At the same time, for the first time, licensing is also being introduced for activities of growing tobacco and fermenting tobacco raw materials.
2) All licenses issued from January 1, 2025 are valid indefinitely. At the same time, licenses for conduction relevant type of economic activity, which were issued according to the Law of Ukraine № 481/95-VR as of 19.12.1995 “On state regulation of the production and circulation of ethyl alcohol, alcohol distillates, alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, liquids used in electronic cigarettes and fuel” (hereinafter – Law № 481) until January 1, 2025, are considered valid and confirm right to conduct relevant type(s) of economic activity until the end of term for which they were issued (for licenses issued for a specified period), or until the day of termination according to procedure specified by this Law (Paragraph 3 Section XIII of the Law № 3817).
3) Grounds for the licensing authority to make a decision to terminate license for the right to conduct relevant type of economic activity have been established and their list has been significantly expanded compared to the list of grounds for canceling licenses that was in effect before January 1, 2025. At the same time, the specified list of grounds is applied for considering issue of terminating both licenses issued according to the Law № 481 and those issued after January 1, 2025.
4) Cost of licenses is set taking into account the minimum wage established by the law as of January 1 of reporting (tax) year in which payment is made (Articles 51 – 53 of the Law № 3817).
Information regarding the cost of licenses in 2025 is posted on the State Tax Service’s web portal: https://tax.gov.ua/pro-sts-ukraini/struktura/aparat/departament-kontrolyu-za-pidaktsiznimi-tovarami/povidomlennya/852948.html.
Herewith, taking into account position agreed with the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, starting from January 1, 2025, amount of the annual license fee (including for licenses for which the fee is paid quarterly in equal installments) is determined in the amount established depending on the amount of minimum wage established:
on January 1 of tax year in which relevant license is issued and relevant payment is made, for the first year of license;
on January 1 of tax year in which the next annual payment is due, for the following periods (years) of license.
Based on this amount of annual fee / next annual fee for license, amount of quarterly payments of the annual fee for licenses for the retail sale of alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, liquids used in electronic cigarettes is determined.
Determining amount of quarterly payments of the annual fee for licenses for the retail sale of alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, liquids used in electronic cigarettes, which were issued according to the Law № 481 with the beginning of validity term before January 1, 2025, and for which amount of the annual license fee was established according to Article 15 of the Law № 481, the following quarterly payments in 2025 shall be made in the amount established by this Article. Law № 3817 does not provide for payment in the current year of additional payment paid in the previous year of quarterly part of the annual fee for licenses validity period of which began in the previous year.
Law № 3817 stipulates that business entity is obliged to ensure payment of the next annual fee or quarterly part of the annual fee for granted license for the right to conduct relevant type of economic activity before the beginning of each subsequent annual (quarterly) period and to notify relevant licensing authority about payment of the next payment for license in paper or electronic form according to procedure established by Article 42 of the Code, indicating budget revenue classification code, amount of made payment, number and date of payment instruction confirming payment of the annual fee or quarterly part of the annual fee for relevant license.
Control over payment of the annual fee or quarterly part of the annual fee for license is carried out by the licensing authority. To exercise control, licensee submits to relevant licensing authority application for payment of the next payment for license in paper or electronic form according to procedure established by Article 42 of the Code, in which the licensee indicates the budget revenue classification code, amount of made payment, number and date of payment instruction confirming payment of the annual fee or quarterly part of the annual fee for relevant license.
The same procedure is also applied for controlling payment of regular payments for licenses issued before entry into force of the Law № 3817. At the same time, a note regarding payment of payment on the original of such licenses received by payer in paper form is not provided.
5) To obtain license, the business entity submits to the licensing authority application for license for the right to conduct relevant type of economic activity in paper or electronic form according to procedure specified in Article 42 of the Tax Code of Ukraine.
Part 3 Article 43 Section VII of the Law № 3817 defines exclusive list of information to be provided in application for license to conduct relevant type of economic activity, and documents to be submitted with such application in cases specified by this Law.
Part 7 Article 34 and Part 7 Article 35 of the Law No. 3817 stipulate that the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approves:
application forms for obtaining license for the right to conduct relevant type of economic activity, for making changes to information contained in the Unified register of licensees for production and circulation of ethyl alcohol, alcohol distillates, alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, tobacco raw materials and liquids used in electronic cigarettes, for terminating license for the right to conduct relevant type of economic activity and procedure for filling them out;
application forms for obtaining license for the right to conduct relevant type of economic activity, for making changes to information contained in the Unified register of licensees and places of fuel circulation, for terminating license for the right to conduct relevant type of economic activity and procedure for filling them out.
Herewith, according to Paragraph 3 Section XIII of the Law № 3817, prior to approval of the application forms specified by the Law № 3817, such applications are submitted in arbitrary form indicating all information provided for by this Law.
In this regard, until entry into force of the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “Some peculiarities of maintaining Unified registers of licensees for the production and circulation of ethyl alcohol, alcohol distillates, alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, tobacco raw materials and liquids used in electronic cigarettes, licensees and places of fuel circulation” and taking into account provisions of Paragraph 3 Section XIII of the Law № 3817, until approval of the application forms specified by this Law, specifically, regarding:
obtaining license;
making changes to information contained in the Unified register of licensees;
making the next payment for the obtained license;
terminating license;
obtaining extract from the Unified register of licensees,
such applications are submitted in any form indicating all the information provided for by this Law.
For the business entities’ convenience and officials of territorial bodies of the State Tax Service, recommended forms of relevant applications are posted on web portal of the State Tax Service at the following addresses:
https://tax.gov.ua/en/mass-media/news/855926.html;
https://tax.gov.ua/en/new-about-taxes--news-/855927.html;
https://tax.gov.ua/baneryi/onlayn-navchannya/kontrol-virobnitstva-ta-obigu/855916.html.
If applicant chooses method of submitting applications in the electronic form, it should be noted that the “Correspondence” menu of private part of the Electronic cabinet allows the payer to send application for obtaining license, for terminating it, making the next payment for license for the right to conduct relevant type of activity, as well as making changes to information contained in the Unified register of licensees. According to Procedure for functioning of the Electronic cabinet, approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine № 637as of 14.07.2017, registered in the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine on 01.08.2017 under № 942/30810, all documents, appeals, statements, letters submitted by the taxpayer are reflected in private part (personal account) of the Electronic cabinet and are uploaded to the information resources of the State Tax Service.
It should be noted that license for the right to conduct relevant type of economic activity is granted subject to passing online electronic identification in the Electronic cabinet in compliance with requirements of the Law of Ukraine "On electronic identification and electronic trust services" and correspondence with the controlling authority through the Electronic cabinet according to application accepted by the controlling authority on a desire to receive documents through the Electronic cabinet (Article 42 of the Law № 3817).
6) Law № 3817 defines new procedure for granting licenses to business entities for the right to conduct relevant type of activity subject to licensing according to this Law, which provides for:
making decisions on granting license, followed by the licensing authority entering information regarding the granted license for the right to conduct relevant type of economic activity into relevant Unified register of licensees and sending extract from relevant register to the applicant;
making decisions in cases specified by the Law to refuse to grant license for the right to conduct relevant type of economic activity, followed by sending such decision to the applicant.
At the same time, from January 1, 2025, it is established that the applicant acquires right to conduct type of economic activity from the date of entry by the licensing authority of information about the granted license for the right to conduct relevant type of economic activity into relevant Unified register of licensees (or from the day following the date of unconditional obligation of the licensing authority to enter information about the granted license for the right to conduct relevant type of economic activity into the specified registers), about which the licensing authority sends a corresponding extract from relevant register.