President: Ukraine will finally refund VAT timely and transparently

Finally Ukraine has made a step towards public registration of claims for VAT refunds, as stated by the President.

“It is very important that a single VAT register will be created. It will be a great achievement. Ukraine will timely and transparently refund VAT for the first time in 25 years of independence,” the Head of State noted at the 5th session of the National Council of Reforms dedicated to the improvement of the tax system. It goes about the draft laws to be submitted for consideration by the Parliament.

“There will be no double registers, no manual steps aimed at moving companies upwards or downwards in the register using political, financial or other types of motivation,” the President said.

According to the Head of State, it is suggested that the register and database are administered by the State Fiscal Service, for it has all the information and reports. However, full control over that issue will be ensured by the Ministry of Finance.

“This is just a financial operation of the state, not a resource management,” Petro Poroshenko added.

The Head of State emphasized that the attempts to misuse the VAT issue would face proper reaction from the Prosecutor General’s Office, Security Service, NABU and Specialized Prosecutor’s Office. “If somebody tries to get there, there will be traces,” he said.

According to the President, the introduction of open VAT refund system is the instrument to not only improve quality of tax administration, but also reduce corruption. “There will be less temptation to organize unscheduled inspections, inspections in response and so on. This will significantly improve the investment climate of our state,” Petro Poroshenko added.

The Head of State is hopeful that the way will be found to solve the problem of arrears in VAT refunds. He noted the reduction of arrears from UAH 25 billion to 16 billion “even under limited budget opportunities”.

The President assumed that previous VAT arrears should be covered by funds received from special confiscation. In case, respective draft law is not endorsed, the refund may be ensured by respective state securities.

Original