Ukraine by the end of the current year has to introduce minimum BEPS standards (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting, the action plan for the OECD to counteract tax base erosion and removal of profits from taxation), otherwise the country and its companies might face sanctions on the part of the European Union, Finance Minister of Ukraine Oleksandr Danyliuk has stated.

"The EU will impose sanctions against those who do not introduce minimum BEPS standards by the end of the year. This means that the Ukrainian business, which is now so painfully winning European markets using the Association Agreement, might find itself in such an uncomfortable situation when it will be applied restrictions because the country turned out to be in an "offshore" list, because it failed to meet the minimum standard of BEPS on time," the minister said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

According to him, for this Ukraine needs to sign the MLI multilateral agreement (the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent BEPS), which is aimed at unifying the provisions of the existing agreements to avoid double taxation without the need for an individual review of the agreements themselves by the countries bilaterally and which has been signed by over 70 countries.

"MLI is an international agreement. Therefore, I must be authorized by the president to sign it. I hope this will happen soon," Danyliuk noted, explaining that the document should still be ratified by the Verkhovna Rada.