Cabinet amends program for granting subsidies in Ukraine
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine at an extraordinary meeting on April 27 introduced amendments to the program for granting subsidies, which will begin to operate from the next heating season. In particular, those citizens who hide their property status or have shadow employment will not be able to take advantage of subsidies.
According to the government portal, it is envisaged that during the next heating season subsidies will be given out in cash, that is, recipients will be able to have the funds saved as a result of economical consumption.
The government will also reduce cases of abuse of subsidies.
"Those who really need help will receive it in the future, but people who just hide their status will not be able to take advantage of the program and parasitize at the expense of taxpayers," the government said.
According to the amendments, if the family owns a car that is less than five years old (except for a moped and a car provided by a social security body), the subsidy will not be granted.
Income from the rental of property, in particular, from the rental of an apartment, will now need to be stated in income declarations - in a new column "other income."
Starting from May 1, 2018, the subsidy is canceled if the area of an apartment exceeds 120 square meters and the area of a house exceeds 200 square meters, except for family-type orphanages and foster families.
Those unemployed, in order to receive a subsidy, will need to register at the employment center. People of working age applying for a subsidy, but not registered as unemployed due to work without registration in Ukraine or abroad, will have their income automatically counted by the social security authorities as three subsistence minimums – UAH 5,286.
The government also simplified the procedure for receiving subsidies for residents of merged territorial communities. From now on they have the right to receive from citizens the documents for processing the subsidy for their transfer to the social security bodies. The mechanism repeats the practice of applying to village and town councils.