Mikhail Titarchuk: Mechanism of administrative appeal allows resolving disputes and complaints quickly and transparently

Press service of the State Tax Service of Ukraine, published 15 February 2021 at 18:28 Chapter: News

Mechanism of administrative appeal of tax notifications – decisions and ways to its improvement became the topic of a round table “Administrative appeal as an effective tool for resolving tax disputes”.

Event, organized by the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine (ACC), was attended by Deputy Chairman of the State Tax Service Mykhail Titarchuk, Director of Administrative Appeals Department of the State Tax Service Iryna Antonenko, representatives of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, the ACC members and others.

Deputy Chairman of the STS Mykhail Titarchuk informed audience about the state of administrative appeal by the Tax Service.

16774 complaints on 22586 tax notifications – decisions were received by the STS during 2020. This is 7.9 thousand or 32% of complaints and 10 thousand or 30.7% less tax notifications – decisions than during the corresponding period in 2019.

“STS considered 21399 tax notifications – decisions for a total amount of 58 billion UAH during 2020. Of these, 16687 tax notifications – decisions were left unchanged for a total amount of more than 48 billion UAH. Almost 5.5 thousand tax notifications – decisions for a total amount of 9.4 billion UAH, ie 26%, were canceled fully or partially according to the consideration results.” – stated Mykhail Titarchuk.

He also emphasized that decisions made by the STS based on the complaints’ consideration results are final and are not subject to further administrative appeal, but may be appealed in court.

“This is a convenient mechanism: if the taxpayer and STS representatives have not reached certain agreements, than any citizen or business representatives have opportunity to appeal in court” – emphasized Mykhail Titarchuk.

STS representatives also noted that mechanism of administrative appeal affects quality of already issued tax notifications – decisions and those that will be issued. After all, it provides opportunity to analyze certain points and decisions and take appropriate measures to ensure that no further decisions are made that do not comply with current legislation and can later be lost in court.

Participants of a round table also considered issue of risk assessment of the expediency of continuing litigation after the loss in courts of first instance. As follows, according to STS representatives, if the Tax Service does not agree with court’s decisions, it will continue to prove its rightness within the framework of current legislation, providing necessary additional information.

Issues of launching the mutual agreement procedure as a tool for pre-trial settlement of tax disputes, involvement of the Ministry of Finance in court proceedings in which it is officially recognized by a third party, etc. were also discussed during the meeting.

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