One appeal for legal aid — and two financial issues “magically” resolved at once

Publication date: January 16, 2024

A private entrepreneur from Khmelnytsky Oblast had been experiencing problems for almost six months due to a mistake made by the tax inspectorate. It was only after the intervention of experts from the Podil Legal League that two financial problems were resolved unexpectedly.

Halyna* from Khmelnytskyi is an entrepreneur who provides beauty services. In June 2023, she decided to close her business and submitted a liquidation report to the tax authorities following the law.

Later, a small mistake was found in the document, and Halyna submitted a revised declaration.

According to Article 50.1 of the Tax Code of Ukraine, the amended declaration must overlap with the original declaration, and the tax authority must correct the amended figures. However, after a while, the updated declaration was accepted, and Halyna noticed that the single social contribution for her had doubled.

After discovering this in the electronic tax office, she requested to cancel the incorrect amount. However, she has yet to receive a written reply. A telephone conversation with a tax inspector seemed more effective: the specialist promised to correct the taxpayer’s card. But more than four months passed, and nothing changed.

Then, in November 2023, Halyna turned to the Podil Legal League for legal assistance.

– During the consultation, we discovered that Halyna had paid back a certain amount of a single social contribution in 2020 using incorrect bank account details. The money was not credited but never returned to the woman’s account. In 2023, she received a call from the tax office and was told that they would return the money to the details of the tax office where Halyna was registered as an entrepreneur. Of course, after receiving this money, the amount of doubling was covered. In addition, the inspectorate charged a penalty for late filing of the declaration – again, illegally, since there was no violation of the filing deadline, says Iryna Kravchuk, the organization’s financial manager.

The financial manager advised and helped Halyna file a second complaint with the State Tax Service of Ukraine.

The entrepreneur has yet to receive an official response. However, “magically” in 9 days, the woman saw the corrected taxpayer card in the electronic office of the taxpayer, and the doubling and the unlawfully accrued penalty disappeared.

*Name has been changed for ethical reasons.

The material was created with the support of the international charity platform GlobalGiving and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. The publication’s content is solely the responsibility of the Legal Development Network.

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