Here is a detailed analysis of the court decision prepared for you:
1. The subject of the dispute is the lawfulness of the appointment and conduct by the tax authority of a documentary scheduled audit of the State Enterprise “Uman Distillery” during the period of the “quarantine” moratorium, which served as the basis for the issuance of tax deficiency notices regarding additional tax assessments and the application of penalties.
2. The Supreme Court proceeded from the fact that the order to appoint the audit was issued in November 2021, i.e., during the period of an imperative prohibition (moratorium) on conducting documentary scheduled audits established by Paragraph 52-2 of Subsection 10 of Section XX of the Tax Code of Ukraine. The Court emphasized that the subsequent actions of the tax authority regarding the postponement and resumption of this audit after the end of the quarantine do not eliminate the initial violation of the procedure for its appointment. The Supreme Court stressed that conducting an audit in the absence of legal grounds (due to the effect of the moratorium) negates its results, as such an audit should not have taken place at all. In doing so, the court took into account the legal position according to which the illegality of the appointment of an audit is a sufficient ground for the cancellation of tax deficiency notices adopted as a result thereof. It is important that the court in this case departed from the previous position of the lower courts, which mistakenly believed that the end of the quarantine “cures” the illegality of the appointment of an audit conducted in violation of the moratorium.
3. The Supreme Court set aside the decisions of the lower courts and rendered a new decision, by which it fully satisfied the plaintiff’s claims, recognizing as unlawful and canceling all challenged tax deficiency notices.
