SFS drops fine against a PR consultant caused by a computer error

Subject of Complaint: Main Department of the State Fiscal Service (SFS) 
Complaint in brief: On March 28, 2018, Marina Starodubska, a PR consultant who has been working as a private entrepreneur for 14 years, turned to the BOC. The Complainant explained that she had consistently paid taxes in time and submitted declarations. In addition, at the beginning of the latest quarter there had been an overpayment on her tax account. However, in March this year, the SFS imposed an additional tax liability and a fine for over UAH 50,000.
On March 3, Starodubska received a text message saying “fiscal service. call us. must meet.” At first she thought it was scammers and did not reply. Then she received a letter from the SFS, which said that the entrepreneur’s tax liabilities had been underreported. Yet the tax report itself showed clearly that the private entrepreneur had an overpayment on her account and a fine of over UAH 10,000 was being charged against it. So the Complainant got a certificate from the local tax office confirming that all her tax liabilities for 2017 had been paid with no outstanding balance.
The Complainant reported that, two days after she was given a certificate on March 20, she received a payment order from the auditor. Starodubska complained about the SFS auditor. In fact, the complaint noted that, at the time of its submission in electronic form, a fine was still registered, although the auditor’s decision being appealed. Under law, penalties cannot be applied when a decision is being challenged in court. Still, the Complainant’s the troubles with the SFS were far from over. On April 13, a debt of over UAH 50,000 appeared in her taxpayer account.
Result achieved: As a result of the meeting, at the end of May, the SFS dropped all fines and additional payments. With the assistance of the Council, the entrepreneur managed to avoid unreasonable surcharges worth tens of thousands of hryvnia. The case was closed successfully.