News date: 16 November 2009
Ilyashev & Partners Law Firm managed to assert judicially the right of O.K. Antonov ASTC for VAT budget refund worth over UAH 5 mln.
In October, Kyiv Appellate Administrative Court confirmed the right of Antonov ASTC for VAT budget refund. The dispute between ASTC and taxation authorities was due to ambiguous understanding of the provisions laid down in the Law of Ukraine “On the Value Added Tax”, which specify the right of the payer for refund of VAT amounts paid in the previous tax period.
The taxation authorities treated “the previous period” exclusively as the month immediately preceding the month, in which the refund is claimed thereby artificially constraining the tax payers’ rights for tax credits of the previous periods.
The Appellate Court confirmed the opinion of Kyiv District Administrative Court, which had satisfied claims of ASTC to the tax authority on invalidation of tax decision notice. The courts found that a taxpayer shall be entitled to receive a refund of VAT paid in any tax period.
The courts provided legally perfect examination of those cases and confirmed that taxation authorities shall follow the language of the law rather than be guided by the tenets of “political expediency” when filling up the budget, commented Roman Marchenko, Senior Partner at Ilyashev & Partners Law Firm.