State Tax Service and Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Ukraine discussed approaches to certifying force majeure circumstances

Practical aspects of certifying force majeure circumstances and their impact on the possibility of exempting taxpayers from liability for violating the law were discussed during the meeting between Deputy Head of the State Tax Service Teodoziia Chernetska and representatives of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Ukraine and its regional divisions.

Participants considered problematic questions that arise in the process of certifying force majeure circumstances based on documents received from the non-residents.

It was noted that certificates of regional Chambers of Commerce and Industry do not always contain proper justification of causal relationship between the occurrence of force majeure circumstances and impossibility of fulfilling specific obligations under the contracts. This does not allow their use to exempt taxpayers from liability.

Parties agreed that certificates should more clearly reflect how force majeure circumstances affected performance of the contract. It is also necessary to determine specific period of the occurrence and effect of force majeure without formally linking it exclusively to technical dates (particularly, dates of performance of obligations under the contract).

Participants considered aspects of the tax legislation application in the context of exempting taxpayers from liability and applying tax consequences in the force majeure case. In particular, from liability for untimely registration of tax invoices/adjustment calculations in the Unified Register of Tax Invoices and untimely payment of agreed tax obligations subject to confirmation of force majeure. 

In addition, question of the bad tax debt writing off that arose due to force majeure circumstances was considered.

Parties, following the meeting, agreed on further cooperation to form unified approaches to the law enforcement practice and reduce number of controversial situations.