Greetings. As a lawyer with many years of experience, I have analyzed the court decision you provided. Here is a brief summary of the case:
1. **Subject matter of the dispute:** A taxpayer’s challenge to a tax notice-decision regarding the application of penalties for the late registration of tax invoices in the Unified Register of Tax Invoices.
2. **Court’s arguments:** The court proceeded from the premise that the offense in the form of late registration of invoices is a continuing one, and therefore the period of its commission is of decisive importance for the calculation of the penalty. The Supreme Court emphasized that under the conditions of quarantine and martial law, taxpayers must have equal opportunities to fulfill their obligations; therefore, for all invoices issued before January 31, 2022, the period of delay for calculating penalties should be counted only from July 16, 2022. The court determined that the appellate instance erroneously failed to take this transitional period into account when calculating penalties for three specific invoices, which led to an overstatement of the amount of the sanctions. At the same time, regarding other invoices registered after July 15, 2022, the court deemed the accrual of penalties to be lawful, as the taxpayer did not comply with the requirements of the legislation within the established grace period. In its decision, the court consistently applies and develops the legal position regarding the necessity of taking into account the transitional period until July 15, 2022, for all taxpayers, departing from a formalistic approach that did not consider the objective impossibility of registering invoices due to extraordinary circumstances. Thus, the court independently recalculated the penalties, excluding the amounts accrued during the periods when the moratorium was in effect, which serves as a method of restoring justice and protecting the taxpayer’s rights.
3. **Court’s decision:** The Supreme Court partially satisfied the cassation appeal, overturned the decisions of the lower courts in the part concerning the refusal of the claim, and rendered a new decision on the partial cancellation of the tax notice-decision in the amount of UAH 2,848,468.68, leaving the remainder of the penalties unchanged.
