Tax practice
A standalone practice with the strongest lead generation potential: protecting a business from additional tax assessments, blocked tax invoices and pressure from the tax authorities, together with the lawful optimisation of the tax burden.
Why businesses choose this PROCTOR practice
Tax matters almost never exist apart from other legal risks.
Additional tax assessments can lead to criminal proceedings, seizure of assets, blocked accounts, corporate conflicts, lost investment or reputational damage.
That is why the PROCTOR tax practice is built on the principle of comprehensive business defence.
Every project is run with specialists from adjacent practices involved - corporate law, White Collar Crime, litigation, international tax planning, banking law and Government Relations. This approach makes it possible to assess risk not only within the Tax Code of Ukraine, but in the context of the whole activity of the company.
We do not limit ourselves to reacting to problems that already exist. The main task of the PROCTOR team is to build legal mechanisms that prevent disputes from arising, keep the business tax-resilient and protect the interests of its owners over the long term.
This is why clients come to us not merely to resolve a single tax question, but as to a strategic legal adviser on the management of tax risk.
Tax advice and structuring
Analysis of the tax consequences of transactions and business models: choice of taxation regime, structuring of deals, application of reliefs. Written opinions that protect the position of the company during an audit.
Advice on VAT, corporate income tax and the unified social contribution
Day-to-day support for accounting and finance teams on difficult questions: input VAT credit, VAT refunds, adjustment of the financial result, taxation of payments.
Tax amnesty and one-off declaration
Support with the special declaration of assets held by individuals: assessing whether it is worthwhile, preparing the declarations, minimising the risk of further questions from the supervisory authorities.
Lines of work
The services this practice runs.
- Challenging tax assessment noticesAdministrative appeal to the State Tax Service and court challenge of tax assessment notices: cancelling additional assessments of corporate income tax, VAT and the unified social contribution, fines and late payment interest. Building the evidence base for the reality of business transactions.
- International tax planning, CFC and transfer pricingWe structure international groups with regard to the controlled foreign companies rules, BEPS and double tax treaties, prepare controlled foreign company reporting and legalise existing structures. We prepare transfer pricing documentation, reports on controlled transactions and master files, justify prices under the arm's length principle and defend clients in transfer pricing audits.
- Tax audit supportLegal support during documentary, factual and desk audits: checking the powers of the inspectors, preparing documents and explanations, objections to the audit report. Minimising additional assessments before a decision is issued.
- Unblocking VAT invoicesChallenging the suspended registration of VAT invoices and adjustment calculations, removal of the company from the list of risky taxpayers, challenging the refusal to take a data table into account. Work both through the administrative procedure and through the courts.
How we run a tax matter
From the first conversation about a claim from the tax authority to a decision that closes the question and removes the risk of its return.
01
Reading the situation
We establish what stage the tax matter has reached: a request, an audit, an assessment notice or blocked invoices. We look at the documents, the deadlines and the powers of the authority.
02
Documents and risk analysis
We go through the primary records, the accounts and the contracts with counterparties and compare them with the position of the authority. The result is a map of weak points and of the prospects.
03
The legal position
We put the position in writing, with references to the Tax Code of Ukraine and the case law of the Supreme Court. With the owner we agree the scenario: an administrative appeal, court, or both.
04
Dealing with the authority
We prepare explanations, objections and complaints and accompany officers at meetings and during investigative actions. Every document is filed on time and its filing is recorded.
05
Defence in court
We run the case through every instance of the administrative courts: the claim, evidence of the reality of the transactions, hearings, cassation. The client receives the judgment and its effect on the accounts.
06
Preventing a repeat
Once the matter is closed we revisit the processes that produced it: contracts, document flow, the choice of counterparties. We prepare recommendations so the same claim does not arise again.
Formats of tax support
The format is chosen for the task: a single question, one dispute, or continuous work with the tax risks of the whole group.
Advice on one question
Analysis of a single matter: the tax consequences of a transaction, the risk of an additional assessment, a reply to a request. The result is a written opinion the company can rely on during an audit.
Support in one dispute
One case run from the audit report or the assessment notice to the judgment: documents, complaints, hearings and work on the evidence of the reality of the transactions.
Standing tax adviser
The team is attached to the business: day-to-day advice, presence during audits, controlled foreign company and transfer pricing reporting, defence in disputes, review of the group structure.
The industries we do it in
The sectors of business this practice works in from the first day.
Cases of the practice
Results in matters run by PROCTOR lawyers.
UAH 12.4m
Assessment from a scheduled audit cancelled in full
A scheduled audit ended with an act assessing UAH 12.4m of corporate income tax and VAT. Objections to the act, an administrative appeal and a court claim removed the assessment in full, and the company paid nothing.
48 invoices
Company taken off the list of risky taxpayers
The company was classed as risky and the registration of its tax invoices stopped. Explanations with the underlying documents and an appeal against the commission decision put the company back in business: 48 blocked invoices were registered.
9 days
Freeze on the accounts lifted in proceedings against a counterparty
The accounts of the company were frozen in criminal proceedings opened against its counterparty. A motion to the investigating judge lifted the freeze in nine days, and the company returned to paying its suppliers without a break in deliveries.
UAH 8.6m
VAT assessment on grain exports removed
The supplies were proved real and the tax notice was cancelled in court.
