The absence of debt on tax and other payments to the budget indicates the law-abidingness of the taxpayer. Who and when can confirm this status, and what should be known about the procedure for obtaining such a document is in the following.
Taxes and Duties accounting
Operational accounting of taxes and duties, customs and other payments to the budgets, the unified contribution for the compulsory state social insurance (hereinafter − USC) are kept by the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine (hereinafter − SFSU). The accounting mechanism is established in the Procedure for the Operations of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine for the Operational Accounting of Taxes and Duties, Customs and Other Payments to the Budgets, the Unified Contribution for the Mandatory State Social Insurance, approved by the Order of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine of 07.04.2016, No. 422 (hereinafter − Procedure No. 422).
In order to account for the accrued and paid amounts of taxes, duties, customs and other payments to the budgets, the USC, the SFSU bodies open integrated payment cards (hereinafter − IPC) for each payer and each type of payment that must be paid by such payers (para.1 of ch.1 of sec. II of the Procedure No. 422). Consequently, the IPC contain all information on accounting transactions and accounting indicators that characterize the state of settlement of the taxpayer with the budgets and trust funds for the respective type of payment. And if the payer owes a certain amount to the budget, this information will be reflected in the IPC. If he/she is “clean” before the budget, this will be also confirmed by the IPC data.
Information on the absence of debt to the budget is contained in a certificate on the absence of arrears of taxes, fees, payments, which are controlled by the bodies of the SFSU, the form of which and the actual procedure for issuance was approved by the order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine of 10.10.2013 No. 567 (hereinafter – Procedure No. 567).
The certificate obtaining
The certificate is issued free of charge in the form provided in Annex 1 to Procedure No. 567, on the basis of the relevant application of the taxpayer (Annex 2 to Procedure No. 567). The taxpayer must contact the State Tax Inspectorate at the principal place of accounting to obtain the certificate. However, the information that included in the certificate is based on data on the presence/absence of fees, both at the principal place of accounting and the non-principle place of accounting of the taxpayer.
It should be recalled that the principal place of accounting is considered to be the location of legal entities, their separate units, and the place of residence of individuals. The main place of accounting is the location (registration) of units of legal entities, movable and immovable property, objects of taxation or objects that are related to taxation or through which activities are carried out (para. 1.4 of sec. I of the Procedure of the accounting of the payers of taxes and duties, approved by the order of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine of 09.12.2011, No. 1588).
It should be added that the separated divisions do not have the status of a legal entity, act on the basis of their provisions, approved by the company, and have a separate balance sheet. Subdivisions (production, workshops, departments, sections, brigades, offices, laboratories, etc.) are structural elements of the company that are not separate from it, but the functions, rights and obligations of which are also regulated by the relevant provisions about them.
Issuance terms
The term for issue of a certificate or a motivated refusal to issue it in any form (in the presence of a tax debt) is five working days from the day the tax authorities receive the application. But the validity period of the certificate can not exceed 10 calendar days from the date of its registration in the supervising body. This is based on the form of the certificate itself. So, if the taxpayer did not have time to get the certificate during its validity, the certificate is filed to his/her case. Then, logically, such a taxpayer may again request a new certificate for the procedure already announced by us. After all, Procedure No. 567 does not limit his/her rights in the number of requests to the tax authorities for the certificate.
Please note that the certificate can be issued in paper or electronic form. However, the taxpayer must submit the application for issuance of the certificate to the controlling authority in paper form, since the procedure No. 567 does not provide for other form.
