TAXATION OF LAND

 The current Land Code of Ukraine (Article 206) stipulates that land use in Ukraine is paid. The object of payment for land is a land plot. Payment for land is made in accordance with the law. Today, the legal regulation of relations for the payment of land, is carried out by the Tax Code of Ukraine.

 The phrase "land fee" is usually understood as a fee for use, which is levied in the form of land tax and rent for land. At the same time, the previous Law of Ukraine "On Payment for Land" in the concept of "payment for land" combined land tax and rent for any land. Now this approach has changed. How does the norm-definition contained in the Tax Code of Ukraine of Art. 14, the payment for land was considered a national tax, which is reduced in the form of land tax and rent for land, state and communal property. However, the literature sometimes concludes that the understanding of the concept of payment for land is much broader than enshrined in the Tax Code. According to the representatives of the land legal science, the composition of this concept should also include compensation for losses of agricultural production associated with the seizure of agricultural land, as well as fines for violations of land legislation.

 The stated approach to the components of the term "land fee" is debatable. Regarding the inclusion in the payment for land losses of agricultural and forestry production, which in the literature is proposed to mean the amount of money that in the case of land withdrawal and composition of agricultural (forest) land payable to the relevant budgets, to attract agricultural (forestry) or compensatory areas compensating for the improvement of the quality of existing agricultural or forest lands, the author should be agreed. The expediency of including compensation for "losses" in the taxation system seems appropriate. As emphasized in the land law literature, this would remove the existing uncertainty about the legal nature of the relevant payments and would allow to apply to the "losses" the established mechanism of accrual and collection of tax payments.

 Regarding the proposal to include fines for violations of land legislation in the land fee, certain reservations should be made. Given the legal nature of fines as sanctions for violating the rights of the owner or user of land, it would hardly be appropriate to consider it part of the payment for land.

 Payment for land in the broadest sense is usually considered to be a legally prescribed set of mandatory land payments, which are necessary for the implementation of property rights and land use rights that can be received and paid by the state, local communities, individuals and legal entities. and land users to targeted, rational and efficient land use.

 As you know, the value of land fees is associated not only with the filling of relevant local budgets and the realization of economic interests of the owner, but also with economic incentives for efficient and rational use of land. This means that if there is a financial basis, local authorities will be able to develop programs aimed at encouraging landowners and users to use and protect land properly, as well as to finance the implementation of such programs.

 According to the Tax Code of Ukraine, land tax is a mandatory payment made by owners of land plots and land shares (units), as well as permanent land users (paragraph 14.1.72).

 It should be noted that raising the rent by law to mandatory payments contradicts the essence of the legal nature of the contractual lease as a relationship that must be based on the principles of legal equality of the parties. Apparently, in this regard, the decision of the Plenum of the Supreme Economic Court of Ukraine of May 17, 2011 №6 (as amended on December 17, 2013) (paragraph 13) states that the rent for land that is in the state or communal property, has a dual legal nature, because, on the one hand, is a lease agreement provided by the lessee to the landlord for the use of land, and on the other - one of the forms of payment for land as a national tax at the level of land tax.