The President's Office is considering banning the purchase of cigarettes,

and other excise goods for cash.

Rostyslav Shurma, deputy chairman of the OP and curator of tax reform, told about this during the briefing.

He explained that the excise tax could become one of the compensators for the future tax reform promoted by the Office of the President.

"We are considering raising taxes on harmful consumption. These are tobacco, alcohol and fossil fuels. Within the framework of the reform, we will bring tax rates to average European levels," Shurma said.

He added that the increase in excise taxes will take place in conjunction with the improvement of tax administration, because, according to him, the share of illegal circulation of tobacco products reaches 30%, and for liquor and vodka products this figure can be even higher.

Yes, Ukraine plans to introduce an electronic excise tax.

"We are planning two fundamental changes. The first is electronic excise. It is not pre-flood excise stamps that are stuck on packs, but a unique QR code. The second concept is to make this whole system work, it is the transfer of payments for excise goods exclusively to a cashless format, i.e. in payment by card," Shurma added.

As an example, he cited the situation with a shortage of fuel at the beginning of a full-scale war, when gas stations switched consumers to card payments and payments through applications.

According to him, this "made it possible to completely whitewash the circulation of fuel, and the same, I'm sure, will happen with tobacco and alcohol."

Shurma clarified that the idea is still being discussed and a decision has not yet been made.

We will remind you that in August 2022, the Office of the President proposed to halve the main taxes.

Corporate income tax and personal income tax - from 18 to 10 percent.

VAT - 10% instead of 20%.

The updated concept of the tax reform was called

- based on the rates of basic taxes.

Despite the attractiveness of such prospects,

around it .

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