A digital marketing company that promotes its clients’ goods and services online turned to the Business Ombudsman Council. To do this, it uses various modern tools — online advertising, including via Google services, SMS campaigns, and subcontractors’ lead generation services, i.e. attracting potential customers.
The tax authority issued a number of tax notifications-decisions for substantial amounts and questioned the very fact that advertising services had been provided. The controlling authority argued that the service delivery acts did not contain sufficient detail regarding the names of the services and their quantitative expression. At the same time, this level of detail is available in the Google Ads account, where the full statistics of advertising campaigns are displayed: cost, number of clicks, impressions, conversions, keyword performance, popular search queries and even sample ads.
To prove the reality of the services received, the company provided sample data from its Google Ads account, from which it is possible to understand how many and what types of services were provided. During the complaint review, the Business Ombudsman Council also took part in a meeting with representatives of the tax authority, presenting key arguments in support of the business. The Council’s senior investigator supported the complainant and emphasized that this type of information is proper and sufficient evidence. This made it possible to refute the tax authority’s arguments about the impossibility of identifying the advertising services.
As a result of the complaint review, the State Tax Service of Ukraine cancelled more than 34.7 million UAH — 97% of the total additional tax assessments. For the company, this means not only significant financial relief, but also effective protection of its business model, built on modern internet marketing tools.
