News date: 10 April 2014
10 April 2014 the International Tax Forum took place hosted by the Yurydychna Praktyka weekly and the Public Council of the Ministry of Inland Revenue at Premier Palace Hotel in Kyiv.
The forum discussed international tax planning in the light of new mechanisms to combat fiscal evasion through offshore companies, transfer pricing, practice of the courts handling tax-related disputes, formation of customs value, protection of assets and others.
Ilyashev & Partners’ Maksym Kopeychykov who also spoke at the forum came up with the practice of defending taxpayers in court against unjust penalties imposed for the alleged failure to meet the mandatory quota for the employment of people with disabilities. He noted that recently the courts had been more friendly to employers.
In this type of disputes, taxpayers will have to satisfy the court that the penalties were groundless. In particular, they will have to show that they had taken all steps to employ people with disabilities and that any failure to do so was anything but reckless. Kopeychykov recommended that such employers show evidence that they had voluntarily searced for disabled employees.
The forum was attended by over 200 participants included judges of the Supreme Court and the Higher Administrative Court, Ministry of Internal Revenue officials, members of domestic and international business associations, scholars, partners of leading law firms, top managers and in-house counsel of a number of private companies.