Oleksiy Lyubchenko: Cyprus is our key partner in the exchange of tax information

State of information exchange and prospects for further cooperation became the main discussion topic during the online meeting of Chairman of the State Tax Service of Ukraine Oleksiy Lyubchenko with Commissioner of the Tax Service of the Republic of Cyprus Mr. Yiannis Tsangaris.

“Tax Department of Cyprus is our key partner given that residents of Ukraine who are trying to reduce their tax liabilities to the state are using Cyprus. Most of our international inquiries have been addressed to the Tax Department of the Republic of Cyprus for many years in a row.” – stated Oleksiy Lyubchenko.

Cyprus is Ukraine’s main partner in the exchange of tax information to prevent and expose tax abuses.

Tax Department of the Republic of Cyprus shall timely and fully provide the State Tax Service of Ukraine with information at its disposal, as well as relevant data obtained as a result of conducted audits.

Particularly, during 2017 – 9 months of 2020, Ukrainian enterprises paid income to non-residents in the total amount of 24.2 billion USA dollars. A total of $ 5.7 billion USA dollars was paid to residents of Cyprus and withheld withholding tax in the amount of 0.23 billion USA dollars.

According to Chairman of the STS, the main tool for collecting evidence of violations in the payment of income in non-residents’ favor is the exchange of tax information with competent authorities of foreign countries. And it is with the Tax Department of Cyprus with which the State Tax Service established effective communication.

Commissioner of the Tax Service of the Republic of Cyprus Mr. Yiannis Tsangaris expressed readiness to provide all necessary information at the request of the State Tax Service using all possible formats of communication, given the limitations that arise in a pandemic.

Communicate with the State Tax Service remotely using the “InfoTAX” service