Analysis of the legal position of the Supreme Court of Ukraine: the taxpayer is exempted from liability, if he acted according to the tax explanations provided.

According to clauses 52.1, 52.2 of Article 52 of the PC of Ukraine, at the request of taxpayers, the controlling bodies provide free-of-charge consultations on issues of practical use of certain norms of tax legislation within 30 calendar days following the day of receipt of such appeal by the given controlling body. The tax advice is individual and can be used exclusively by the taxpayer to whom such advice is provided.

According to Article 53 of the PC, Ukraine can not be held liable to a taxpayer who acted in accordance with the tax advice given to him in writing or in electronic form, as well as a general tax consultation, in particular, on the grounds that in the future such tax advice or generalization tax advice has been changed or canceled.
Tax advice is the assistance of a controlling body to a particular taxpayer regarding the practical use of a specific norm of a law or a regulatory legal act on the administration of taxes or fees, the control over which is entrusted to such a control body (sub-item 14.1.172, clause 14.1, Article 14 of the PC of Ukraine) .
The receipt by the plaintiff of an individual tax advice, the content of which corresponds to the rules of the current legislation, is a legal fact that justifies the exemption from liability of the taxpayer who acted in accordance with the explanations provided by such a consultation on the practical application of certain norms of the tax legislation.
Such a conclusion was reached by the Supreme Court of Ukraine in the composition of the panel of judges of the Administrative Court of Cassation, having considered in a cassation procedure the case on the suit of a legal entity to the DFS General Directorate in the Lviv region regarding the invalidation of the tax advice and the obligation to take actions.
Claims were substantiated by the fact that the tax advice provided by the defendant does not meet the requirements of the current tax legislation, namely articles 52, 53 of the Tax Code of Ukraine, and therefore subject to cancellation, in connection with which the defendant is obliged to provide a new tax consultation taking into account the findings of the court .
In refusing to satisfy the claim, the courts of the previous instances proceeded from the fact that the tax consultation as a form of disclosure of the official understanding of the provisions of the legislation governing the tax relations does not produce any legal consequences, since in its content is not a decision of the subject of power or regulatory an act does not create or terminate the rights or obligation of a person, but only by means of a controlling body to a specific taxpayer concerning the practical use of a specific law. No management advice can include any tax advice, nor does it oblige the plaintiff to perform any action.
Thus, the panel of judges of the Supreme Court found erroneous conclusions of the courts of the previous instances that the tax advice provided by the supervising body did not create or terminate the rights or obligations of the plaintiff.
One of our clients also came to this situation, who after the next update of the details of the accounts for the payment of individual taxes and fees, applied for an oral consultation first to the telephone district DPI, which directly pays its payments, then on the DFS hotline, and after what is in writing, for receiving updated invoice numbers. In general, in the telephone mode, our client received about six different account numbers, although one must pay one. The question arises if a taxpayer would begin to pay, for example, personal income tax on one of the misplaced accounts by the "specialists" of the district tax, who would have suffered losses from penalties imposed by the same tax for non-payment for a paid employee PIT? Probably that - the state ...
The Supreme Court's ruling of 20 February 2018 in case No. 813/2617/15 - https://reyestr.court.gov.ua/Review/72367032.