Sixteen Percent of Verified Tax Returns Filed by State Officials Have Serious Violations

The National Agency on Corruption Prevention has found violations in 2,499 tax returns over the past 4 years, i.e., 96% of the total number of complete verifications. Sixteen percent of verifications reveal serious violations, including undocumented income of UAH 237 thousand and more.

According to the NACP, not all officials with violations in their tax returns are corrupt, some of them make accidental and minor errors. The violations treated as serious by the Agency include the following:

• Inaccurate information in the amount between UAH 237 thousand and UAH 593 thousand  resulting in an administrative penalty.
• Inaccurate information in the amount over UAH 594 thousand  resulting in the prosecution according to the Criminal Code.

Other violations include late filing of tax returns, failure to report significant changes in the property status, in particular, any foreign currency accounts opened by the official and his/her family members, complete failure to file tax returns, and minor misprints and errors.

It is interesting to note that, starting from 2020, the NACP may draw up reports on administrative violations related to corruption only in respect of the top officials, i.e., the persons holding important and highly important positions (the full list of such officials is available in Article 50 of the Law “On Corruption Prevention”). The reports in respect of any other individuals may only be drawn up by the authorized officers of the National Police.

In 2020, the Agency drew up as many as 128 reports in respect of the top officials under Parts 1 and 2 of Article 172–6 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses.