The complainant gets paid almost UAH 800 k of penalties for late VAT refund

Complainee: The State Treasury Service of Ukraine in Kyiv (Kyiv State Treasury) 
Complaint in brief: A Kyiv-based meat products producer approached the Council. Despite the court decision, the Complainant was not paid a penalty for late VAT refund.
In April 2019, the District Administrative Court of Kyiv ordered to pay the Complainant  almost UAH 800 k from the state budget. The decision of the court came into force. However, as of mid-July, it remained unenforced. The funds were not returned to the Complainant. 
 
Actions taken: The procedure for collecting funds from a debtor’s accounts is regulated by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers and is as follows. According to the procedure, the SFS approves a payment amount with the collector within five working days and notifies the local State Treasury thereof. After that Kyiv State Treasury should have passed the necessary documents to the State Treasury Service of Ukraine but the Complainant reported missing the specified deadline. 
 
Therefore, after examining the documents of the case the Council’s investigator sent a letter with relevant arguments to Kyiv State Treasury and the Main Department of the SFS in Kyiv. The Council asked in writing to cease malpractice and enforce the court decision.
 
Result achieved: Shortly after the Council’s involvement, the Complainant received almost UAH 800k on its account expense. The case was closed successfully.