Legal regulation of actual audits conducting by tax authorities and appeal of such audits in the order of administrative proceedings
Authors: Isayeva Nataliya Karlivna 
Published: January 2025

The article considers some issues of legal regulations of actual audits carrying out by tax authorities, improvement of the mechanism of implementation of relevant powers of tax authorities and ensuring the rights of taxpayers during actual audits.

Attention is drawn to the fact that the proper level of regulation of the procedure for conducting tax audits, the clarity and specificity of the legal norms that fix the grounds and the procedure for their implementation are one of the guarantees of ensuring legality in the activities of the state tax service bodies, and, at the same time, the fulfillment by taxpayers of their obligations defined by law.

At the same time, the sufficiently numerous cases of not allowing officials of tax authorities to conduct tax audits and, in particular, actual audits, challenging the actions of officials of tax authorities regarding the appointment and conducting of actual audits of taxpayers to court indicate the need to specify the legal norms governing the conduct of audits taking into account the analysis judicial practice.

The article carries out a scientific analysis of the legislation of Ukraine, which regulates the implementation of actual audits of taxpayers by the state tax service, the identification of problematic aspects of its application and an analysis of judicial practice regarding the appeal of actual audits.

The article examines the following problematic issues regarding the application of the tax legislation of Ukraine by the courts in determining a specific period of time during which tax payers’ compliance with the requirements of the legislation is checked, taking into account the specifics and purpose of the actual checks.

Considered questions regarding the subject of the actual audit in accordance with the Tax Code of Ukraine and the grounds for its conduct and, in particular, such grounds as the performance of functions defined by legislation in the sphere of regulation of the production and circulation of alcohol, alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, liquids used in electronic cigarettes, fuel.

The article also draws attention to the fact that the legislation provides for discretionary powers for public authorities that perform various functions in various spheres of state administration, which allows them to show a certain flexibility and expands the range of influence in the implementation of their activities. But, in the opinion of the author, the discretionary powers of financial and in particular tax control authorities should not have, or should at least be significantly limited, since the legislation strictly and imperatively regulates both the list of powers of these bodies and the procedure for applying these powers. This is due to the peculiarity of state financial control.

Relevant conclusions and proposed changes to the current tax legislation of Ukraine are substantiated.

Key words: tax audit, actual audit, state tax service authorities, public authorities, appeals in administrative proceedings, court, administrative court, tax legislation, taxpayers’ rights, discretionary powers.