Court supported position of the State Tax Service regarding determination of status of creditor claims in the bankruptcy case

Supreme Court, as a member of the panel of judges of the Cassation economic court (decision as of 08.08.2023 in case № 908/1954/21) supported position of the controlling body, that in order to determine status of creditor claims in the bankruptcy case, moment of the claim's occurrence and not the deadline for its fulfillment, should be taken into account first of all, therefore, creditors' claims that arose before the initiation of bankruptcy proceedings are competitive, regardless of term of the debtor's monetary obligations.

Supreme Court, based on the analysis of tax legislation, including provisions of Sub-paragraph 14.1.175 of Paragraph 14.1 Article 14, Paragraph 56.18 Article 56, Paragraph 57.3 Article 57 and other provisions of the Tax Code of Ukraine, came to the conclusion that the taxpayer’s monetary obligation for purposes of implementing administration of taxes and levies can exist as agreed obligation, acquiring status of tax debt after the moment of its payment, which gives tax authority opportunity to take measures to collect amount of such obligation, and also as an unagreed obligation, when monetary obligation exists, but tax authorities do not take measures to administer taxes and levies.

However, discrepancy in the amount of monetary obligation does not mean that obligation does not exist or may not be taken into account applying for recognition of creditor claims according to provisions of the bankruptcy law.