The number of tax debts among businesses has increased by 22% since the start of the full-scale war

The Tax Service is increasingly pursuing business tax debts.This year, the State Tax Service has already initiated more enforcement proceedings than in the entire previous year: 25.2 thousand compared to 22.2 thousand. This is also 22% more than in 2021, when 20.6 thousand cases were opened.

Over 3,000 tax debts have remained unresolved since 2021.

Until recently, it was impossible to verify whether a company you work with had outstanding tax debts. Since May 2022, the State Tax Service of Ukraine has not published information about companies’ tax liabilities. However, cooperation with such businesses can be risky due to potential account freezes and asset seizures.

Now, it is possible to check companies for tax debts under enforcement through Opendatabot.

The majority of companies with outstanding tax debts pursued by the Tax Service are registered in Kyiv—5.7 thousand, accounting for 23% of all cases this year. Dnipropetrovsk region follows with 4.5 thousand businesses (18%). The top three is completed by Zaporizhzhia region, with 1.3 thousand cases, or 5.2% of tax debts.

Among all companies in Ukraine, the sanatorium “Zbruch” holds the highest number of tax debt cases—77 proceedings, nearly all initiated this year. It is followed by Myrhorod Bread Factory No. 1, with 70 cases due to unpaid taxes. The top three debtors are rounded out by the company “Lers”, with 44 active cases.

Context

A company can incur tax debt due to non-payment of taxes, missed declaration deadlines, and similar issues. As a result, enforcement proceedings for debt recovery by the State Tax Service represent tax debts that have gone through court rulings but remain unpaid by the debtor voluntarily.