Individual entrepreneur without debts

Complainee: The State Tax Service (STS), Main Department of the STS in Kharkiv region (MD STS)
Complaint in brief: The Council received a complaint from a private entrepreneur from Kharkiv region. The tax charged the entrepreneur fines for possible non-payment of the single social contribution in 2013. According to tax statements, the complainant had no debts. The matter was that in 2013 taxpayers submitted reports in hard copy form, and tax officials entered data in the electronic database manually. It turned out that one of the tax officials made a mistake during the data transfer. He accidentally increased the SSC amount for February 2013 and specified UAH 11,472 instead of UAH 1,147. The entrepreneur challenged the SSC claim in court three times. The court concluded that tax officials made a mistake in transferring information to the electronic database. During the period from 2013 to 2019, the amount of her debt reached UAH 13,000. Being concerned about the demand of the MD STS to pay the non-existent debt, the private entrepreneur turned to the Business Ombudsman Council for help.
 
Actions taken: After examining the circumstances of the case, the investigator found the complaint substantiated. The Council recommended that the STS ensure a full, comprehensive and impartial consideration of the entrepreneur’s complaint. In the BOC’s view, the tax authority did not take the fact of the mistake into account by mistake. In a letter to the tax authority, the investigator stressed the importance of the “good governance” principle, according to which public authorities must act in a timely and consistent manner. The Council asked the STS to correct the mistake made by the state body.
Result achieved: The tax authority followed the Council’s recommendations and cancelled the decision on accruing debt to the individual entrepreneur. The complaint was successfully closed