Debt on taxes, levies and payments to the state budget of Ukraine increased by 3.8 times in 2014-2016, reaching almost UAH 59 billion, or US$2.18 billion, as of January 1, 2017, according to the website of the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine, referring to the audit report on the effectiveness of tax debt collection, where auditors recognized the existing system of tax debt management inefficient and non-transparent.
The measures taken by fiscal authorities to prevent the increase in tax debt volume and to collect debts from taxpayers have not only failed to slow down its growth, but increased the volume of debt on taxes, levies and payments to the state budget by 3.8 times during 2014-2016, to almost UAH 59, as of January 1, 2017.
According to the agency, the bulk of the tax debt was formed from the value-added tax, corporate profit tax, and rental payments, accounting for almost 88% in the total amount of tax debt.
At the same time, the Accounting Chamber expressed surprise that the Finance Ministry determined ”dynamics of the tax debt” as the key performance indicator for the State Fiscal Service (SFS) of Ukraine for 2016-2017 without taking into account its annual growth, which the auditors say did not stimulate the SFS to prevent the debt growth. Moreover, forced repayment measures proved ineffective, bringing little result.
”During the period under review, the territorial bodies of the SFS on average repaid no more than 1% of the tax debt, and that was only at the expense of auctioning collateral property or seizing the debtors` funds,” the document said.
At the same time, the agency notes that due to inaction by the SFS, and because of the write-offs, the losses to the state budget have reached UAH 15.8 billion over the last three years.
