Electronic VAT Administration System in Ukraine: Comparative Analysis with the European Union

Abstract

VAT is one of the main sources of revenue for more than 160 states around the world. However, these states constantly have to improve their VAT systems in order to tackle the numerous cases of fraud. The EU VAT system applies in a harmonized way in all the Member States. However, the Member States still have some flexibility in the area of the fight against VAT fraud. In Ukraine, there is a full-scale electronic VAT administration system in place, entailing the drawing up of VAT invoices by taxable persons (suppliers) and their being recorded in a state register, setting up special accounts to pay the VAT, preliminary monitoring of conducted transactions reflected in tax invoices, and automatic refunds of VAT amounts upon taxable persons’ applications. In this article, the author makes a comparative analysis of the Ukrainian and the EU (and selected Member States’) VAT administration systems and identifies their current strengths and weaknesses.