Liability for violation of the rules of trade in excisable goods

Penalties in the field of retail trade in excisable goods

Every entrepreneur who wishes to carry out activities related to the sale of alcoholic beverages or tobacco products must first obtain a license. The above is expressly provided for in part 20 of Article 15 of the Law of Ukraine "On State Regulation of Production and Circulation of Ethyl Alcohol, Cognac and Fruit Alcohol, Alcoholic Beverages, Tobacco Products, Liquids Used in Electronic Cigarettes and Fuel" (hereinafter - "Law 481/95-VR").

Thus, Law 481/95-VR clearly defines the requirements that a company must meet, in particular, to carry out retail trade in excisable goods. At the same time, the legislator imposes the obligation to control the circulation of excisable goods on the bodies of the State Tax Service of Ukraine.

This statement is in line with Article 80.2 of the Tax Code of Ukraine, according to which an actual inspection may be carried out if there are grounds provided for by law, namely, the availability of information about the company's violation of the requirements of Law 481/95-VR. It is worth noting that the state authorities carry out an actual audit without prior notice to the taxpayer and, moreover, before it begins in accordance with clause 20.1.9. The authorized persons of the tax authority have the right to carry out control settlement transactions.

In the context of an actual audit, it is important that when appointing it, the tax authority must have information about the actual violation.

It is important that control and verification measures cannot be of a preventive or precautionary nature. If the tax service does not have proven facts that the company has committed a violation of the law, the appointment of an audit is not allowed.

However, in practice, in most cases, the actual inspection ends with a report. Among the most frequent violations of Law 481/95-VR detected by the tax authorities are retail trade:

• Sale of excisable goods without obtaining appropriate licenses;
• Excisable goods through a cash register not specified in the relevant license;
• Tobacco products at a price higher than the maximum retail prices;
• Alcoholic beverages at prices lower than the minimum retail prices;
• Alcoholic beverages or tobacco products without excise tax stamps.

It should not be forgotten that the tax legislation provides tools for business representatives to administratively appeal the results of the audit. Such measures include filing objections to the audit report and a complaint in accordance with Article 56 of the Tax Code.

By the way, in court cases on appealing tax assessment notices (hereinafter - TAN) adopted as a result of audits, even despite the admission of tax auditors to the audit, the entrepreneur has the opportunity to appeal against the groundlessness of the appointment of such an audit. In turn, the court must first verify the taxpayer's arguments and, if they are confirmed, all further actions of the tax authorities, including the tax violation notices, will be recognized as illegal and canceled.

Thus, the issue of retail trade in excisable goods is quite complex and voluminous. If you need to obtain clarification of the relevant legislation or to support a tax audit, or to appeal against tax notices, please contact Prikhodko & Partners Law Firm.