The Supreme Court upheld the position of the tax service regarding the accrual of penalties for violating settlement deadlines in the field of foreign economic activity.

The Cassation Administrative Court of the Supreme Court, in its ruling of May 21, 2024, in case No. 140/10623/23, confirmed the legitimacy of the tax notification-decision, which accrued penalties for violating the settlement deadlines in the field of foreign economic activity. This was reported by the press service of the State Tax Service (STS).

The Supreme Court noted that the provisions of the Instruction on the Procedure for Foreign Exchange Supervision by Banks over Compliance with the Resident's Deadlines for Settlements on Export and Import Operations, approved by the NBU Board Resolution No. 7 dated January 2, 2019, do not provide for the possibility of completing foreign exchange supervision in connection with settlements through the transfer of a bill of exchange as payment for the delivered goods.

In view of this, the panel of judges concluded that the transfer of a bill of exchange as payment for delivered goods in an export transaction is not a circumstance with which the Instruction associates the completion of foreign exchange supervision for compliance with the settlement deadlines. Settlements for export transactions must be made exclusively by crediting funds to the residents' accounts in banks in Ukraine.

Thus, implementing the purpose of the cassation proceedings in this case, the panel of judges formulated the following legal conclusion. Article 13 of the Law of Ukraine "On Currency and Currency Operations," which is a special law in the field of currency operations, provides for settlements for residents' export transactions exclusively in monetary form. This includes the receipt of currency values in national or foreign currency, converted into national currency at the exchange rate of the National Bank of Ukraine. Funds must be credited to the residents' accounts in Ukrainian banks within the time frames specified in the contracts, but no later than the deadlines and volumes established by the National Bank of Ukraine.