The European Business Association has noted the aggravation of the situation with the blocking of tax invoices since the end of February

The European Business Association (EBA) has noted the escalation of the situation with the blocking of tax invoices since the end of February. It suggests that instead of freezing business activities by blocking them, the State Tax Service should conduct tax  audits in case of questions about the activities of companies. This is stated in the EBA's response to the request of UNN.

Since the end of last year, the situation with blocking the work of companies due to the blocking of the registration of tax invoices/adjustment calculations has worsened

The EBA noted that in case of blocking tax invoices and adjustment calculations, which, in the opinion of the tax authorities, are a risky transaction, the company may continue its activities and simultaneously appeal against such blocking. However, the European Business Association emphasized that this is the first signal that a company may be included in the list of risky taxpayers. 

If a company is included in the list of risky taxpayers  , it completely paralyzes its activities. Moreover, there is a chain reaction and the tax authorities start blocking the company's counterparties only on the basis that the third company in the supply chain is on the risky list, the EBA added. This means that the company cannot issue tax invoices to any counterparty, which makes it impossible for it to operate. 

For its part, the European Business Association proposes not to immediately block or freeze business activities in the current difficult economic environment. Moreover, the tax legislation of the EU countries does not contain any provisions on blocking tax invoices or company activities on any grounds

They also added that the State Tax Service currently has all the rights to conduct inspections of a company, so if there are any questions about its activities, it is worth initiating and conducting an inspection. "After all, any blocking is based purely on suspicion, which may not be justified. And unblocking (through the State Tax Service or the court) takes a long time, because even we have companies in the Association since December that have not been able to resolve the issue," the EBA clarified.

Recall

Blocking of tax invoices is one of the main problems that Ukrainian entrepreneurs complain about in the field of tax administration. In general, according to the Business Ombudsman Council's statistics , 57% of complaints from business representatives in the third quarter of 2023 concerned tax issues.

As noted by business ombudsman Roman Vashchuk in an interview , the problem for business is not even the level of taxes, but the style of administration. He also added that tax and customs lose 90-94% of their cases in courts, either in the first instance or on appeal to the Supreme Court.

According to experts, this situation with the courts indicates that the tax authorities are abusing their powers, as the courts are breaking down these decisions. Some, such as economic analyst Pavlo Sebastianovych, directly calls it "schemes.

Among the main such schemes, he names fictitious exports, registration of fictitious VAT from fictitious companies, export of goods under fictitious documents with fictitious VAT and refund of real VAT, twists, blocking tax invoices, granting risky status to an enterprise and organizing shadow schemes to remove this status.

Dmytro Oleksiyenko, a member of the Taxpayers Association Board, believes that MP Danylo Hetmantsev, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Tax Committee, is behind this administration policy, because no important decisions are made at the State Tax Service without his knowledge. And he actually runs the tax office through his former assistant Yevhen Sokur.

At the same time, Mr. Hetmantsev called his activities in relation to the tax service "parliamentary control." He also rejected accusations that he was taking over the powers of the executive branch, saying that he was simply helping entrepreneurs.