Some organizational and legal matters of tax audits under martial law in Ukraine

Abstract

The article points out that Ukraine's legislation provides for the right of the taxpayer to be present at tax audits and to provide explanations on the issues raised during such inspections, to require the tax authorities to carry out audits with information and facts that may testify in favour of the taxpayer. At the same time, the application of these rights under the conditions of martial law may be problematic or impossible, even in cases where the taxpayer is not in the temporarily occupied territories but is considered an internally displaced person, does not have access to the relevant documents confirming the legality of his actions, business operations, relevant calculations, etc. The above also applies to the fulfilment of the taxpayer's obligations stipulated by the Tax Code of Ukraine regarding the accounting of income and expenses, the calculation of taxes and fees, their payment within the established terms, as well as the submission of declarations and reports. The article notes that when considering the specificities of tax control, which is part of State financial control, it is necessary to take into account the specificities of such a control subject, which is the taxpayer. The taxpayer, as a subject of control, is a natural person, which determines certain features of the organization and implementation of his individual control by tax authorities. This especially applies to the implementation of such control in the conditions of martial law. Therefore, in our opinion, solving the issue of conducting a tax audit, which sets out the appropriate conditions for its implementation, should be approached individually in each individual case. We are talking about self-employed persons, individual entrepreneurs, etc. In regulatory legal acts it is necessary to provide not only for the consideration of force majeure circumstances related to martial law and military operations, as well as a broader list of reasons for postponement of the audit dates, carrying out the auditonly in the presence of the tax payer or the authorized person. Key words: tax legislation, tax control, tax audits, tax liability, rights of tax payers,martial law, powers of tax authorities.