Ukraine participated in the Tax Administration EU Summit for the first time: talked about security and stability in the face of global challenges

Delegation of the State Tax Service of Ukraine, led by acting Head of the State Tax Service Lesya Karnaukh, participated in the Tax Administration EU Summit (TADEUS 2025). For the first time, the EU candidate countries – Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Serbia, North Macedonia and Kosovo were invited to participate in the forum. This was important signal of the European Union’s openness to partnership with the future members.

TADEUS is annual forum of tax authorities of the EU countries under auspices of the European Commission. This year it took place in Copenhagen.

“Ukraine is clearly fulfilling its commitments to the EU membership, including in the taxation sphere, including implementation of the BEPS standards, participation in the OECD Global Forum and harmonization with the EU legislation. European Commission Report also confirms this progress” – Lesya Karnaukh noted. 

One of the key questions of the Summit was strengthening security of the EU tax systems in the face of geopolitical changes, military actions, crises and cyberattacks. Challenges of digital economy, role of data analytics, automation and joint solutions to enhance security and sustainable development within the EU were also discussed.

“I shared experience of the State Tax Service in ensuring uninterrupted operation of tax system in the wartime conditions. The key here is uninterrupted functioning of digital services, data protection, ensuring extraterritorial service to payers, support to relocated business and effective remote work format. And the main thing is to move forward – towards the European standards and trust. I am grateful to our partners from Finland and Estonia. Together we are implementing important projects that will qualitatively change work of the State Tax Service” – acting Head of the State Tax Service added. 

Participants also discussed a number of other strategic directions for development of tax administrations in Europe: 

- cooperation in the indirect taxation sphere:

digitalization of processes;

risk management;

improvement of the tax information exchange to combat fraud;

increase transparency.

Acting Head of the State Tax Service Lesya Karnaukh and Chairman of the Management Committee of the Federal Public Service Finance of Belgium Filip Van de Velde signed a Memorandum of understanding between the institutions during TADEUS 2025.  

Parties will cooperate in the following areas:

- combating shadow tax schemes;

- implementing European administration practices;

- knowledge exchange on the inter-institutional interaction and tax debt management.

“Today, with support of our European partners, we are changing our approaches. State Tax Service is a part of the European professional dialogue and reform community. Every change is primarily about people. When there is a goal to become a full-fledged part of the Europe, even war does not cross out these aspirations. Despite daily russian attacks and significant losses, we continue to build modern, transparent and digital tax system. The one that every taxpayer will trust” – Lesya Karnaukh emphasized. 

For reference:

TADEUS (Tax Administration EU Summit) is a forum created in 2018 that brings together the EU tax administrations to strengthen cooperation, fight tax evasion, develop digital tools, manage risks and increase trust between the member states.