Chronicles and faces

The Ukrainian Bar Association Tax Forum is an important annual event for professionals in the field of tax law and finance. It brings together experts, lawyers, business and government representatives, creating a unique platform for knowledge exchange, development of the professional community and search for solutions to current challenges in the field of taxation.

This year’s forum was held offline by the Ukrainian Bar Association on 26 September in Kyiv.

Our experts – Senior Partner of Alexander Minin and Senior of Counsel Yuliia Kryvomaz – spoke at the second session ‘Trends in tax audits in connection with their renewal’. They focused on the following topics:

• the need to verify whether there are real grounds for including taxpayers in the tax audit schedule or appointing an unscheduled tax audit;
• making decisions on admission/non-admission to the tax audit in case of doubts as for grounds and the right to such tax audit; balance of risks and benefits within this approach;
• the statutes of limitations for tax audits, as well as for additional charges based on the results of tax audits and for the application of penalties;
• documents for which periods (time limitations) should be kept by the taxpayer, including for providing during tax audits (‘can there be a documentary tax audit without documents?’); tax audit consequences for a period ‘without documents’.

The key thesis of Alexander and Yuliia’s speech was: “It is easier to prevent a problem than to ‘cure’ it”.

The experts noted that if there are real doubts about the existence of grounds for a tax audit according to the law, the planned scope of the tax audit beyond the limits provided by law, requirements beyond the law, and the tax authorities do not ‘hear’ the company in this regard during preliminary communication, what expectations does this form regarding the ‘behavior’ and approaches of the tax authorities during the tax audit?

During the speech, Alexander and Yuliia provided many aspects that taxpayers would benefit from considering to determine whether the tax audit was legitimately appointed and to determine further possible actions to manage the risks of negative consequences of an unlawful tax audit. They also discussed cases that some taxpayers have already encountered in the actions of the tax authorities.

In conclusion, Alexander and Yuliia added that the purpose of this discussion was not to offer ready-made solutions but to show the direction in which it may be worth working concerning a specific situation, when the appropriate approach may be better than dealing with the consequences of a tax audit outside the requirements of the Tax Code. After all, protecting the rights and interests of taxpayers is primarily a matter for taxpayers themselves.

The presentation of Alexander Minin and Yuliia Kryvomaz is available by the link.

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