Tax procedure: from doctrinal developments to consolidation of a legislative definition

Abstract

Reforms in the field of taxation and tax legislation are permanent in Ukraine. Since the restoration of the independence of our state, this important social process and its legal regulation have been focused on by both the society and the state. At the same time, the mentioned transformative activities have been accompanied with numerous problems, not least of which is related to the procedural regulation of tax relations. One of the key factors negatively affecting the general state of rulemaking and law enforcement in the field of taxation is the lack of a legal definition of such a system-forming financial and legal category as a tax procedure. The outlined gap provokes scientists to make debatable decisions and increases the level of conflictedness of sub-sectoral regulation. Therefore, working out and consolidating the definition of tax procedure in the current legislation will allow to minimize the mentioned defects and will make a positive contribution to the modernization of taxation. Critical scientific analysis of the existing doctrinal options for defining the legal (juridical) procedure and tax procedure has been carried out and the current state of regulatory and legal support of the specified categories has been revealed in the paper. It has been pointed out that the existence of several approaches to the scientific definition of the tax procedure, the difference in views on its essence and features, the scientists’ proposals regarding possible options for the legislative definition of the analyzed category also differ significantly. Distinct from the two existing main scientific approaches (model- program and activity-based), an alternative (synthesized) approach to a meaningful understanding of the tax procedure and terms derived from it has been suggested. The author’s vision of the system of tax procedures as a system of procedures for fulfilling tax obligations has been argued, the place of the procedure for paying taxes and fees as their component have been indicated. To arrive at the correct definition of the categories of ‘tax procedure’, ‘procedure for fulfilling the tax obligation’, and ‘procedure for paying taxes and fees’, we have recommended the effective steps. The amendments and supplements to both the Basic Law of our state and the Tax Code of Ukraine have been substantiated. The arguments for appropriateness of adopting the Tax Procedural Code of Ukraine in the future have been advanced.