Only 8% of businesses in Ukraine believe that the country's tax system is favorable for business development, according to the annual "Tax Index" survey by the European Business Association (EBA).
Of those surveyed, 52% assessed the current tax regime in Ukraine as satisfactory, 40% believed it hindered business development and investment attraction, and only 8% thought it contributed to the development of their business.
The overall index rating decreased to 2.85 out of a possible 5 and continues to remain in the negative range (2.97 points in 2022).
This year, the lowest rating among factors influencing the index calculation was given to the quality of tax legislation, receiving a score of 2.63. Specifically, 39% evaluated it negatively, and 52% considered it satisfactory.
Compared to the previous year, the number of those who perceive tax legislation as high-quality decreased from 26% to the current 9%. Respondents pointed out that the constant changes, contradictions, and ambiguous provisions, as well as complexity, have the most significant negative impact on the quality of legislation.
42% of respondents find the tax administration and tax reporting preparation procedure burdensome, receiving a rating of 2.67. Similar to the previous year, 41% assessed this procedure as satisfactory.
Only 17% consider the tax administration procedure easy (20% in 2022). Respondents mostly complain about the amount of time spent on preparing tax reports and paying taxes, the hasty introduction of new rules with insufficient time for adaptation, and their lack of clarity.
The assessment of the quality of tax services remained almost unchanged at 3.03 points.
About half of the respondents, namely 48%, consider the quality of service satisfactory, 31% are satisfied with the service, and 21% are dissatisfied.
According to the responses, 46% of the respondents found it easy to contact the tax service, while only 16% found it difficult. In 17% of the surveyed companies, issues were resolved satisfactorily, and in 63%, they were resolved partially.
The assessment of fiscal pressure received the highest score of 3.07 points. However, survey participants reported an increase in fiscal pressure compared to the previous year.
The number of respondents who did not feel any pressure on their company remains low – only 7% noted the absence of pressure (for comparison, 4% in 2022 and 36% in 2021). A quarter of those surveyed report a noticeable fiscal pressure, and 40% report moderate pressure.
Among the manifestations of fiscal pressure, businesses highlighted unjustified interpretations of tax legislation by regulatory bodies – reported by 64% of respondents. The number of complaints about unjustified information requests (55%) and artificial blocking of tax invoices (41%) significantly increased. Last year, these figures were 27% and 23%, respectively.
Among the surveyed companies, 52% reported facing the issue of blocking VAT invoices in 2023, 21% faced non-compliance with deadlines for customs control on foreign economic activity (FEA) and the application of penalties. 17% of respondents reported problems with VAT refunds and violations by the tax authorities during inspections, particularly in the field of excisable alcoholic and tobacco products, excisable fuel, and cash registers/fiscal recorders.
