- in respect of which, as of December 1, 2017, explanations and copies of documents are not provided in accordance with subparagraph 201.16.2 of clause 201.16 of article 201 of this Code;
- in respect of which a decision was made to refuse to register a tax invoice/adjustment calculation in the Unified Register of Tax Invoices and for which, as of December 1, 2017, no administrative or judicial appeal procedure was initiated.
Unblocking Tax Invoices: Will It Be the Same for Everyone?
Before New Year, our legislators traditionally adopt and publish numerous changes in the tax legislation.
The change from 2017 to 2018 was no exception. Thus, on December 7, 2017, the Law of Ukraine No.2245-VII “On Amending the Tax Code of Ukraine and Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Ensuring the Balance of Budget Revenue in 2018” was adopted and officially published on December 30, 2017 (newspaper “Golos Ukrainy” No.248 (6753) dated December 30, 2017).
The Law provides for the numerous changes in the tax legislation.
The most expected change for business, perhaps, was the abolition of the “blocking” of tax invoices from January 1, 2018, at least until March 1, 2018.
It became possible in connection with the exclusion of clause 74.2, article 74, of the Tax Code of Ukraine, which provided for the continuous automated monitoring of tax invoices and adjustment calculations for compliance with the criteria for the risk assessment sufficient to stop the registration of such tax invoices/adjustment calculations.
In addition, paragraph 201.16 Art. 201 of the Tax Code of Ukraine has also been amended, according to which (new edition) “registration of a tax invoice/adjustment calculation in the Unified Register of Tax Invoices can be suspended in the manner and on the grounds determined by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine”.
Therefore, if earlier the grounds for suspending the registration of the tax invoice/adjustment calculations (hereinafter – TI/AC) were the compliance of their set of criteria for assessing the risk degree which was approved by the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, but now the procedure and grounds should be determined by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.
It’s quite strangely, but the legislator obliged the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine with the clause 7 on the “Final and transitional provisions” of the of the Law of Ukraine No.2245-VII to determine only the procedure for suspending the registration of the TI/AC by March 1, 2018. It does not refer to determining the grounds by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine for suspending the registration of TI/AC in the “Final and transitional provisions”.
Therefore, it is not clear whether the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine will determine the grounds for suspending the registration of the TI/AC or not. As the legislator did not actually oblige it to do it. Such inconsistency of norms within the framework of one law testifies once again to the extremely low level of lawmaking techniques of the legislator, while neglecting, it creates more and more legal conflicts and legal uncertainty.
The pleasant news was that the TI/AC, which registration was suspended, should be registered no later than January 2, 2018 (XX Section of “Transitional Provisions” of the TCU was supplemented with the clause 57). Therefore, on the first working day of 2018, the TI/AC should be registered. Taking into account that there are no references for resubmission of the TI/AC to the Unified Register of Tax Invoices, their registration should occur automatically.
But everything is not as simple as you would like it to be.
First, TI/AC is not subject to automatic registration: