One will pay
more
Once again the rules on court
fees in tax disputes have dramatically changed. One will normally pay more, or
to speak more accurately, much more in court fees. The amendments to the Law of
Ukraine "On Court Fees" (hereinafter - the "Law on Court Fees") have
been already in force since 1 September 2015.
What is pleasing is that the tax
authorities are now also liable to court fees. An exemption from court fees
enjoyed by them no longer works. The exemption has been lifted, under an
explanatory note to the bill concerned, to prevent the tax authorities from
abusing their procedural rights by resorting to justice without any valid
grounds for that, just owing to their free of charge access to court.
So, what was it and what is it going to be:
|
Category
|
Applicant’s type
|
Court fee rate (before the amendments)
|
Court fee rate (after the amendments)
|
|
Filing a claim of a property nature with a court of first instance (for example, challenging tax assessments)
|
Taxpayers-legal entities and governmental bodies
|
General rate –
2 % of the amount of the claim
Minimal rate –
1,5 MSS*
Maximum rate –
4 MSSs
|
General rate –
1,5 % of the amount of
the claim
Minimal rate –
1 MSS*
Maximum rate – not available
|
|
Taxpayers-individuals and taxpayers-individual entrepreneurs
|
General rate –
1 % of the amount of
the claim
Minimal rate –
0,4 MSS
Maximum rate – 5 MSSs
|
||
|
Filing a claim of a non-property nature
|
Taxpayers-legal entities, taxpayers-individual entrepreneurs and
governmental bodies
|
Fixed rate –0,06 MSS
|
Fixed rate –1 MSS
|
|
Taxpayers-individuals
|
Fixed rate –0,4 MSS
|
||
|
Filing an appeal from the judgement of a court of first instance or a
motion on the review of a case based on newly established circumstances
|
All types of applicants
|
50% of a rate paid at the stage of the filing the claim with a court
of first instance
|
110% of a rate paid at the stage of the filing the claim with a court
of first instance
|
|
Filing a cassation appeal from the judgement of a court of appeal
|
All types of applicants
|
70% of a rate paid at the stage of the filing the claim with a court
of first instance
|
120% of a rate paid at the stage of the filing the claim with a court
of first instance
|
|
Filing an appeal with the Supreme Court of Ukraine
|
All types of applicants
|
70% of a rate paid at the stage of the filing the claim with a court
of first instance
|
130% of a rate paid at the stage of the filing the claim with a court
of first instance
|
* - Minimum statutory salary (an MSS rate as of September 2015 is UAH 1,218).
Of special interest is the abolition of the rule allowing paying 10% of a prescribed full-sized court
fee at the stage of the submission of a clam of property nature. Court fees
with respect to such claims are nowadays payable immediately in full.
How to get an indulgence?
A significant increase
in court fees, especially in
respect of multimillion hryvna cases for which a maximum
rate of a court fee has been canceled, forces us to
think seriously of such an option as postponement, introduction of installment
plan, reducing an amount or a full exemption from a court fee (Art. 8 of the Law on Court Fees).
It is hoped that courts will take a balanced approach to the application of the above instrument. Courts
are granted almost unlimited discretion in
this respect. The only thing a court
must take into account when deciding on granting postponement, introducing an
installment plan, reducing an amount or a full exemption from a court fee is the financial state of a requesting party
to litigation. At the same time, the statute sets out no specific criteria for assessing such a financial state. It appears that
everything fully rests on the discretion
of the court.
Given the "breadth"
of the statutory language, one cannot exclude the widespread
exemptions of the tax authorities from court fees
due to their insufficient funding.
However, hopefully, the judges
will show common sense and this
will not occur. Otherwise everything remains as it is today. Relying on a free
of charge access to justice, the tax authorities will
continue their notorious practice of issuing arbitrary tax assessments and filing ill-founded appeals from court judgements.
Turning to the Unified
State Register of Court Judgments, it is even now possible to find first court
jurisprudence as to deferred payments of
court fees at the request of the tax authorities. Up to now, this jurisprudence looks favorable
for taxpayers.
In particular, in the case
brought by the Municipal Enterprise "Voda
Donbasu" to the Slavyansk United
State Tax Inspection (http://reyestr.court.gov.ua/Review/50191807) the Donetsk Administrative
Court of Appeal denied the tax authorities’ motion to defer the payment
of a court fee. The court made reference to the failure on the part of the tax authorities
to provide evidence in support of its poor financial situation.
* - Photo from http://www.emsleys.co.uk/
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