Subject of Dispute: An entrepreneur challenging a tax notification-decision on accrual of penalties for violation of settlement terms for foreign economic operations.
The court was guided by the following arguments: 1) The presence of force majeure circumstances (martial law) is confirmed by a Chamber of Commerce and Industry certificate and exempts from liability for breach of terms under one of the contracts; 2) Under the second contract, obligations were terminated by offsetting counterclaims, therefore no violation of terms occurred; 3) For the third contract, force majeure circumstances were not properly confirmed by a certificate, therefore the penalty accrual is legitimate.
The court partially satisfied the claim – cancelled the tax notification-decision regarding penalties for two contracts (655,000 UAH) and upheld the penalty accrual for one contract (118,000 UAH).
