Measures to Prevent Tax Debt among Small and Medium-Sized Businesses

Abstract

The article aims at forming a roadmap for self-reliant control of the absence of tax debt for small and medium-sized businesses in Ukraine. The necessity of conducting tax audits for small and medium-sized businesses in terms of preventing tax evasion has been studied. The article systematizes the types of tax audits provided by the Tax Code of Ukraine (hereinafter referred to as TCU) amid the COVID pandemic. The peculiarities of these audits and their key features are detailed. The necessity to conduct self-reliant control of the absence of tax debt among small and medium-sized enterprises (hereinafter referred to as SMEs) is substantiated based on the analysis of the ratio dynamics of tax debt to tax revenues to the Consolidated Budget of Ukraine. The Roadmap for independent tax control as for the absence of tax debt due from SMEs is suggested. Its structure includes three stages with step-by-step detailing of the taxpayer’s actions at each step. The practical aspect of the roadmap is based on preventive control of taxpayers’ honesty and financial literacy. The implementation of the Roadmap is carried out on the example of SMEs on the simplified system of taxation, and SMEs as single tax payers, using the taxpayer account, which is the key software in the lockdown, as the basis for calculations. The principles of work in the specified electronic resource are visualized. The article considers the tax authorities’ possible areas of work to prevent violations of tax legislation by SMEs. Such areas of work are grouped into 3 fields: taxpayers training, simplification of the taxpayer account, transparency of the uses of taxes paid by a definite SME.

Keywords

• digital signature
• financial literacy
• independent tax control
• roadmap for the absence of tax debt
• single tax. sme
• tax audits
• tax debt
• taxpayer account