The practical aspects of certifying force majeure and their impact on the possibility of exempting taxpayers from liability for violations of the law were discussed during a meeting between the Deputy Head of the State Tax Service, Teodozia Chernetska, and representatives of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Ukraine and its regional divisions.
The participants considered problematic issues that arise when certifying force majeure based on documents received from non-residents.
It was noted that certificates of regional Chambers of Commerce and Industry did not always contain proper justification of the causal relationship between the occurrence of force majeure and the impossibility of fulfilling specific obligations under contracts. This does not allow their use to exempt taxpayers from liability.
The parties agreed that the certificates should more clearly reflect how force majeure circumstances affected the fulfillment of the contract terms. It is also necessary to determine the specific period of occurrence and effect of force majeure without formally tying it exclusively to technical dates (in particular, the date of fulfillment of obligations under the contract).
The participants considered aspects of the application of tax legislation in the context of exempting taxpayers from liability and applying tax consequences in the event of force majeure circumstances. In particular, from liability for untimely registration of tax invoices/adjustment calculations in the Unified State Register of Taxes and untimely payment of agreed tax obligations subject to confirmation of force majeure circumstances.
In addition, the issue of writing off bad tax debt that arose as a result of force majeure circumstances was considered.
As a result of the meeting, the parties agreed on further cooperation to form unified approaches to law enforcement practice and reduce the number of controversial situations. (State Tax Service)