The right to engage in entrepreneurial activity is one of the constitutional rights of a citizen. According to Art. 42 of the Constitution of Ukraine, everyone has the right to engage in entrepreneurial activity that is not prohibited by law.
According to Clause 1 of Art. 50 of the Civil Code of Ukraine, an individual with full civil capacity who has reached the age of 18 has the right to engage in entrepreneurial activity. Such activity can be carried out only if it is state registered. After registration, a citizen acquires the status of an individual entrepreneur.
Current legislation does not allow everyone to engage in entrepreneurial activity. For example, certain categories of civil servants (including military personnel on active duty), employees of the prosecutor’s office, the Security Service of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, courts and other government bodies, as well as persons who are prohibited from engaging in certain types of activity by a court decision, cannot combine their activities with entrepreneurial activity.
How to register as a private entrepreneur – registration of an individual entrepreneur?
The procedure for registering an individual entrepreneur is determined by Law No. 755. Local governments, local state administrations and notaries may also provide the above-mentioned administrative services together with state registrars from 01.01.2016. Local governments receive powers for state registration if the relevant local council adopts such a decision.
For registration, a citizen may apply to the subject of state registration (state registrar, local government, local state administration) or to a notary in person or through a person authorized by him, or may send the necessary documents by mail with a description of the attachment or by e-mail with a description containing information about the documents sent in electronic form.
In the case of submitting documents in person, the citizen is obliged to present a passport. If the documents are submitted by an authorized person, he presents his passport and a power of attorney issued by a notary indicating his powers. In case of sending documents by mail, the signature of the individual on the registration card must be notarized.
What documents are required for state registration of an individual entrepreneur?
According to Article 18 of Law No. 755, for state registration of an individual as an entrepreneur, an application for state registration of an individual as an entrepreneur is submitted. An individual may simultaneously with the application for state registration submit an application for choosing a simplified taxation system. In addition, he has the right to choose only the 1st, 2nd or 3rd group at a rate of 5% without VAT.
An individual who plans to immediately work on the general taxation system and pay VAT may simultaneously with the application for state registration submit a registration application for voluntary registration as a VAT payer in the approved form.
If the documents are submitted in person, the applicant presents his passport of a citizen of Ukraine or a temporary certificate of a citizen of Ukraine, or a passport document of a foreigner, or a certificate of a stateless person, or a certificate of permanent or temporary residence.
The documents must be presented in Ukrainian (Article 15 of Law No. 755).
It is prohibited to require other documents not provided for in Article 18 of Law No. 755.
Documents in paper form are accepted according to the description, a copy of which is issued to the applicant on the day of receipt of the documents with a note on the date of receipt of the documents.
When can state registration be refused?
According to Part 2 of Article 28 of Law No. 755, the grounds for refusal of state registration are given. In particular:
1) the documents were submitted by a person who does not have the authority to do so;
2) the Unified State Register contains information about a court decision on the ban on carrying out the registration action;
3) the grounds for suspending the consideration of documents have not been eliminated within the established period;
4) there are restrictions on engaging in entrepreneurial activity established by law;
5) there is an entry in the Unified State Register that the individual is already registered as an individual entrepreneur;
6) the submitted documents contradict the requirements of the laws of Ukraine.
What are the terms of state registration?
Documents submitted for state registration are considered within 24 hours of their receipt, except for weekends and holidays (Article 26 of Law No. 755).