Church property exempt from taxation

Ukrainian Parliament adopted the Law “On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine regarding property tax exemption for religious organizations" (registration number 2226).

According to UNIAN, 248 of 343 deputies registered in the session hall voted in favor of this decision.

Under the law, religious organizations shall be exempt from paying property tax.

According to the amendments, real estateowned by religious organizations shall be exempt from taxation, if their statutes (regulations) are registered in accordance with the law and the said real estate is used only for their statutory activities, including the real estate in which charitable institutions (orphanages, boarding schools, hospitals, etc.) founded by such organizations perform their activities, except for real estate, in which the production and / or business activities are carried out.

In accordance with the final provisions, the law comes into force on the first day of the month following the month of its publication.

The local governments are also recommendedto reconsider the decision to setthe property tax in 2015(in terms of tax on real property other than land) for real estate owned by religious organizationswithin one month from the date of publication of the law.