Legal security of tax stimulation of innovation activities: retrospective and prospects

Abstract

Problem setting. The problems of development and state stimulation of innovative activity in Ukraine are in the constant field of view of many domestic authors. A thorough ­study of foreign experience has shown that among the main types of such stimulation, which are quite often used in many highly developed countries, is ­preferential taxation of innovative activity subjects. Today, the current legislation of Ukraine does not contain special mechanisms for tax stimulation of innovative activity subjects, which necessitates the conduct of a comprehensive economic and legal study of the problem of legal support for such a type of state support of innovative activity as preferential taxation.

       The object of the study is legal relations in the field of preferential taxation of innovative entities.

Analysis of recent research and publications. A considerable number of scientific works by various authors, in particular: G. Androschuk , V. Budyansky , M. Gomon , M. Dyba, A. Zemlyankin , M. Krupka , O. Marchenko, O. Osyka , etc. , are devoted to the study of the problems of preferential taxation of innovative activity subjects in Ukraine. ­However , most of the research interests are aimed only at studying and borrowing foreign experience of preferential taxation of innovative activity subjects ­, without adapting the main models of such stimulation to the current realities of the economic development of Ukraine during the years of its independence. Norms of laws that previously defined the main types of preferential taxation in the field of innovative activity, including those excluded from the Law of Ukraine "On Innovative Activity" Articles 21 and 22, are not subject to critical analysis. The specifics of the legal implementation of the norms of these laws and the practice of their application are also not taken into account.

Purpose of the article :

- conduct a brief analysis of conceptual ­approaches to the development of legislative mechanisms for tax incentives for innovative entities;

- conduct a retrospective analysis of legislative norms that ­(previously) regulated relations in the field of preferential taxation of innovative activity entities ­of various types;

- develop specific legislative proposals to improve the ­institutions of preferential taxation of innovation entities in Ukraine, in the context of the possibility of their adaptation to the national tax system and achieving general (conceptual) harmony with the norms of foreign innovation legislation, including those of the EU member states.

The scientific novelty of the study is that the author, based on a retrospective analysis of the norms of the tax legislation of Ukraine and taking into account foreign experience, substantiated the feasibility of implementing such a type of state support for innovative activity as preferential taxation. In this regard, a differentiated approach to preferential taxation of small, medium and large innovative businesses was proposed, and the need to supplement the Law of Ukraine "On Innovative Activity" with provisions on providing tax benefits to innovative activity entities by exempting them from income tax and VAT, the payment obligations of which arise in the process of carrying out all economic activities, and not only during the implementation of innovative projects , was substantiated . Such exemption should be carried out for a fixed amount of money, which should not exceed the cost of the innovative project , which is subject to further implementation. The money received as a result of such preferential taxation can only be used for the implementation of innovative projects .  

Articleʼs main body. The history of the development of Ukrainian legislation, which determined various types of tax benefits in the field of innovative activity, was analyzed, in particular, the provisions of the Law of Ukraine “On Taxation of Income of Enterprises and Organizations” of February 21 ­, 1992 , the Law of Ukraine “On Innovative Activity” and the Law of Ukraine “On a Special ­Regime for Innovative Activity of Technological Parks”. It was established that tax benefits for innovative activity entities, which are provided for in the above-mentioned regulatory legal acts, were not sufficiently effective instruments of state support for innovative activity, since such benefits, by their content, are oriented towards supporting large commercial structures and in no way provide opportunities for the development of small innovative entrepreneurship entities, which are more flexible and dynamic participants in the innovation process. In addition, it was concluded that these tax benefits contributed to the “ shadowing ” of the capital of business entities that illegally used the preferences provided for them to reduce the tax burden in the process of their economic activity. First of all, these are technology parks, their participants and joint ventures.

The paper examines foreign experience in tax incentives for innovation. It has been established that the most common type of tax benefit in the field of innovation is a tax credit, which in turn can be regular (for example, in Canada and the Netherlands), when the tax benefit increases in proportion to the total amount of research expenses, and incremental (for example, in the USA, Japan and France), which is provided in proportion to the increase in research expenses compared to expenses in the previous established period. It is noted that the tax legislation of Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Spain and the United Kingdom applies tax discounts corresponding to the costs of purchasing machinery and equipment for R&D, and in Denmark and Ireland - corresponding to the costs of building buildings for laboratories and conducting R&D.

The need for a differentiated approach to establishing a legal regime of preferential taxation for small, medium and large innovative businesses is substantiated. It is proposed to establish in the Law of Ukraine "On Innovation Activity" provisions on preferential taxation for small innovative businesses, which should be exempted from paying value added tax and corporate income tax, the obligations to pay which arise in the process of carrying out all economic activities, not just innovation. Such exemption should be made for a fixed amount of money, which should not exceed the cost of the innovation project , which is subject to further implementation. The money received as a result of such preferential taxation can be used only for the implementation of innovation projects .

Conclusions and development prospects.  The system of preferential taxation of innovative activity subjects in Ukraine is at the stage of its "birth" and requires a radical revision of the legislator's positions ­regarding its further development and improvement. Reforming this system is seen primarily in changing approaches to its construction, which should take into account the peculiarities of the economic development of each category of innovative activity subjects and be oriented towards the formation of real mechanisms for state stimulation of innovative activity. It is the differentiated approach that will help to build and streamline the entire system of preferential taxation of innovative activity subjects, as well as take another step towards adapting Ukrainian legislation to European standards.