ORDER OF THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE № 19 DATED 12.01.2023 OR WHAT WILL CHANGE IN THE PROCEDURE FOR MAKING DECISIONS ON REGISTRATION AND REFUSAL OF REGISTRATION OF TAX INVOICES/ADJUSTMENT CALCULATIONS IN THE UNIFORM REGISTER OF TAX INVOICES?

From March 8, 2023, the changes stipulated by the order of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine № 19 of 12.01.2023 to the Procedure for making decisions on registration and refusal to register tax invoices/adjustment calculations in the Unified State Register of Tax Invoices, approved by order of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine № 520, will come into effect dated 12.12.2019 (hereinafter referred to as Order № 520).

Thus, the adoption of the above-mentioned order (based on the content of the explanatory note to the draft order) is due to the fact that there is a misunderstanding between tax authorities and taxpayers regarding the amount (sufficiency of primary documents) submitted by business entities for consideration by the Commissions of Controlling Bodies together with notifications about submitting explanations.

Given the fact that today there is no normatively established list of primary documents that would be comprehensive, each of the parties (payer / tax authority) interprets it arbitrarily.

The presence of this documentary "gap" between the parties affects the outcome of the review by the Commissions of tax authorities that make decisions on registration / refusal to register tax invoices in the Uniform Register of Tax Invoices and makes it difficult for taxpayers to receive positive decisions regarding the registration of tax invoices, since in most cases the control authorities make a formal mark in decisions on refusal to register tax invoices, making a note next to the column "non-submission by the taxpayer of copies of primary documents regarding the purchase/supply of goods/services, storage and transportation, loading, unloading of products, warehouse documents, including invoices/invoices, acts of acceptance - transfer of goods taking into account certain standard forms and industry specifics, invoices and settlement documents" without specific indication of which primary documents are missing for making a decision on registration.

In view of this, in the order that we are considering, the Ministry of Finance specified paragraph 4 of Order № 520.

From now on, in accordance with Order № 520, taking into account the changes introduced by Order of the Ministry of Finance № 19, the regional level commission within 5 working days following the day of receipt of explanations and copies of documents submitted in accordance with paragraph 4 of this Order based on the results of consideration of written explanations and copies documents:

• or makes a decision on the registration of the Tax Invoices/Adjustment Calculations in the Uniform Register of Tax Invoices and sends it to the taxpayer;
• or sends a notification about the need to provide additional explanations and/or documents necessary for consideration of the commission's decision on registration of the Tax Invoices/Adjustment Calculations in the Uniform Register of Tax Invoices (hereinafter referred to as the Notification), using the form that is an appendix to the same order of the Ministry of Finance;
• or makes a decision to refuse to register a Tax Invoices/Adjustment Calculations in the Uniform Register of Tax Invoices in the event that the taxpayer has provided copies of documents drawn up or executed in violation of the law.

That is, in the case of stopping the registration of the tax invoice/calculation of the adjustment, the algorithm of actions looks like this:

1. The taxpayer submits an explanation with supporting documents to the supervisory authority.
2. The commission of the controlling body, based on the results of the document review, makes one of the above-mentioned decisions.

If the tax authority has sent a notification about the need to provide additional documents, then:

1. the taxpayer has the right to submit the documents specified in the notice to the supervisory body within five days, based on the results of which the Commission makes a decision on registration/refusal of registration;
2. if such documents are not submitted by taxpayers, then the Commissions make a decision to refuse registration of Tax Invoices/Adjustment Calculations.

We hope that such changes will have a positive impact on the consequences of consideration by the Commissions, which make decisions on registration, refusal to register tax invoices in the Uniform Register of Tax Invoices, and the trend of making these decisions will change in favor of taxpayers.