Today patients, pharmacists and suppliers of\u00a0medical equipment made joint allegations against the Ministry of\u00a0Income and Charges of\u00a0Ukraine, regarding illegal raise of\u00a0VAT on\u00a0drugs from\u00a07% to\u00a020%.<\/p>\n
\u041en\u00a0April\u00a04, Friday night, Ministry of\u00a0Income and Charges has sent the clarification letter to\u00a0all customs departments in\u00a0Ukraine No. 7822\/7\/99-99-19-05-01-17 . \u0410ccording to\u00a0the last paragraph, \u00ab…taxation of\u00a0indicated category of\u00a0products, when entering the territory of\u00a0Ukraine, is\u00a0conducted under the regular conditions at\u00a0the rate of\u00a020\u00a0percent..\u00bb, but not at\u00a0the rate of\u00a07% as\u00a0it\u00a0was previously envisaged by\u00a0the Law about Prevention of\u00a0Financial Disaster and Creation of\u00a0Preconditions of\u00a0Economic Growth in\u00a0Ukraine No. 1166-VII dated 27\u00a0March, 2014.<\/p>\n
\u00abOn\u00a0Friday, while my\u00a0company was passing customs clearance of\u00a0goods of\u00a0medical use, Lviv customs had informed\u00a0us that, they will proceed with customs clearance only at\u00a0the rate 20% VAT,\u00a0\u2014 <\/em>tells Oleh Matseh, the owner of\u00a0the company, engaged in\u00a0the supply of\u00a0medical equipment. \u2014\u00a0We\u00a0were deeply surprised, as\u00a0previously the matter was to\u00a0introduce the VAT at\u00a0the rate of\u00a07% for medical equipment, that would hit really hard the pockets of\u00a0Ukrainians, but not\u00a020%, that will simply kill the market. Such raise was argued with explanatory letters from the Ministry, which states that VAT should be\u00a0at\u00a0a\u00a0rate of\u00a020%, including medicines and medical equipment. I\u00a0would like to\u00a0stress that before this letter the goods passed the customs clearance at\u00a0the rate of\u00a07%\u00a0VAT. This could be\u00a0checked in\u00a0custom\u2019s database\u00bb.<\/em><\/p>\n It\u00a0is\u00a0worth noting, that according to\u00a0the Ukrainian legislature, the right to\u00a0set the tax rates, repeal or\u00a0modify them has only the body of\u00a0state legislature that is\u00a0the Parliament of\u00a0Ukraine.<\/p>\n \u00abSuch VAT raise is\u00a0an\u00a0example of\u00a0manual regulation of\u00a0state\u2019s economy,\u00a0\u2014 <\/em>states Eugen Rzyvodernikov, Deputy Director of\u00a0SMD\u00a0company. \u2014\u00a0The worst fact\u00a0is, that this regulation will lead to\u00a0significant increase in\u00a0prices for medicines, that are already growing due to\u00a0the depreciation of\u00a0the state\u2019s currency. In\u00a0the country, were only\u00a011% of\u00a0the drugs, in\u00a0monetary value, are procured by\u00a0state budget, the consumer will suffer the most, who pays for treatment on\u00a0his own and who is\u00a0not receiving any compensation from the state. VAT will, without doubts, lead to\u00a0great reduce in\u00a0availability of\u00a0the drugs for a\u00a0large number of\u00a0Ukrainian citizens.\u00bb<\/em><\/p>\n In\u00a0experts view, in\u00a0case of\u00a0the VAT rate is\u00a0increased to\u00a020%, the price on\u00a0drugs and medical equipment will be\u00a0raised by\u00a080%, minding the rate of\u00a0inflation.<\/p>\n \u00abThis year the half of\u00a0the Ukrainians with fatal diseases were already doomed to\u00a0die,\u00a0\u2014 <\/em>says Dmytro Sherembei, the Chairman of\u00a0the Board of\u00a0Charitable Foundation Patients of\u00a0Ukraine (UCAB). \u2014\u00a0We\u00a0already had faced the problem of\u00a0huge underfunding of\u00a0drug procurement by\u00a0the Ministry of\u00a0Health of\u00a0Ukraine for fatally ill Ukrainians, with cancer, tuberculosis, AIDS and others. But this step will be\u00a0the last nail to\u00a0the coffin. Raising any rates or\u00a0introducing additional\u00a07% or\u00a020% VAT\u00a0\u2014 is\u00a0proportional to\u00a0the number of\u00a0people\u2019s lives that will not receive the medicines, due to\u00a0its high price. When raising the VAT to\u00a020%, every fifth Ukrainian will not receive the drugs and thus will die\u00bb.<\/em><\/p>\n We\u00a0would like to\u00a0remind you, that starting from April 1st an\u00a0additional tax (VAT) was set on\u00a0all drugs and medical equipment at\u00a0the rate of\u00a07%, according to\u00a0the Law about Prevention of\u00a0Financial Disaster and Creation of\u00a0Preconditions of\u00a0Economic Growth in\u00a0Ukraine. Such VAT would lead to\u00a0additional 10-15% rise in\u00a0prices.<\/p>\n