Tax disputes for business in 2026: deadlines for challenging an assessment, costs, step by step

A complaint against a tax assessment notice goes to the State Tax Service within 10 working days of receiving it, and a claim to the administrative court within six months. If the company went through the administrative complaint first and lost, one month remains for the claim from the day that procedure ended. The court fee for a company starts at 3,328 UAH.

A tax assessment notice for several million hryvnia rarely arrives out of the blue: it is preceded by a request, an audit order and an audit report in which the authority has already set out its version of events. Those are the stages at which a company has most scope to change the outcome, because once the monetary liability is agreed the sum enters the taxpayer’s integrated card and starts accruing interest.

Businesses most often come to a tax lawyer when the tax service has found transactions with a counterparty to be fictitious, disallowed the VAT credit, cut the deductions and assessed additional corporate tax. Penalties under Article 123 of the Tax Code follow, and administrative enforcement may follow those. Below: the deadlines that apply in 2026, what each line of defence costs, and what really moves a court.

What exactly is challenged: the request, the report, the notice and blocked invoices

A tax dispute is made up of several separate documents, each challenged by its own rules. A request from the authority under Article 73 of the Tax Code creates no monetary consequence by itself, but the answer to it shapes the future evidence, so a half-page brush-off harms a company more than silence would. The order appointing an audit is challenged separately and only before the auditors are admitted: once tax officers have started the audit, courts almost always dismiss claims to quash the order.

The audit report is not a decision and creates no obligation to pay, yet it is the foundation of the assessment notice. The notice is an individual act determining the monetary liability, and it is the notice that is challenged administratively or in court under Article 56. Decisions of the tax service’s commission that a taxpayer meets the risk criteria, and refusals to register a tax invoice, run on a separate track: they are challenged under the procedure in Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 1165 of 11 December 2019 and call for a different body of evidence.

Objections to the audit report: ten working days that many waste

Paragraph 86.7 of the Tax Code gives the taxpayer 10 working days from receiving the report to file objections and further documents. The authority’s commission must consider them with the company’s representative present, if the objection asks for that. This is the cheapest stage of the dispute: no duty is payable, the papers go in through the electronic cabinet, and the outcome can reduce the future notice or remove some episodes before it is even issued.

The practical value of objections is not limited to the chance of persuading the tax authority. Documents filed at this stage are recorded in the audit file, and it becomes harder for a court later to accept the authority’s argument that the taxpayer withheld information. Where the primary documents appear only at trial, the authority reliably alleges abuse of procedural rights, and some of that evidence is not admitted.

The administrative complaint: deadlines, deemed consent and what it costs

A complaint against an assessment notice goes to the State Tax Service within the 10 working days following the day the decision was received (paragraph 56.3). The authority considers it within 20 calendar days, and its head may extend that to 60 calendar days by notifying the taxpayer in writing. If no reasoned decision is sent within those periods, the complaint is treated as granted in full in the taxpayer’s favour under paragraph 56.9.

The main advantage of the procedure is that while the administrative complaint runs, the monetary liability remains unagreed (paragraph 56.15), so the tax service cannot collect the sum and charges no interest for that period. The drawback is just as real: after a decision rejecting the complaint, the company has only a month to go to court. Those who let that month pass while waiting for the “full text” of the decision lose the right to judicial protection.

Court: six months, one month and the Grand Chamber’s position

The general period for going to an administrative court is six months from the day the person learned their right had been infringed (Article 122 of the Administrative Procedure Code). In case No. 500/2276/24 in July 2025 the Supreme Court’s Grand Chamber confirmed that the six-month period applies to claims to quash tax assessment notices, and that the shortened one-month period applies only where the taxpayer used the pre-trial procedure and received a decision on the complaint.

The court fee for a company on an administrative claim of a monetary character is 1.5 % of the value of the claim, but no less than 3,328 UAH and no more than 33,280 UAH. On a non-monetary claim a company pays 3,328 UAH; an appeal costs 150 % of the rate and a cassation appeal 200 %. Filing through the Electronic Court subsystem reduces the fee by 20 %, saving over six thousand hryvnia at the top rate. Our full tariffs for this work are on the page of legal service prices.

What a tax dispute costs and what makes up the budget

The fee figures above are for handling a dispute end to end and exclude the court fee and the cost of expert reports. Where a company wants only a written assessment of its prospects without representation, we prepare a legal opinion for a fixed sum, and the owner decides on that basis whether to go further. Disputes between counterparties that run alongside tax ones are handled by a separate practice — commercial disputes.

Step by step: from audit report to judgment

1. The day the report arrives. Record the date of service and gather the primary documents for the disputed transactions: contracts, delivery notes, consignment notes, acceptance certificates, payment instructions, correspondence.
2. Within 10 working days. File objections under paragraph 86.7, asking for them to be considered with the company’s representative present.
3. Once the notice arrives. Choose the track: a complaint to the State Tax Service within 10 working days, or a claim straight away within six months.
4. While the complaint is pending. Keep track of the 20-day period and of any written notice extending it: the authority’s silence works for the taxpayer.
5. The claim. File it through the Electronic Court at the fee reduced by 20 %, attaching the evidence that the transactions were real and the calculation of the disputed sum.
6. After judgment. An appeal must be filed within 30 days of the full text being drawn up, and a cassation appeal within 30 days of the appellate ruling being announced.

Typical mistakes businesses make in tax disputes

• Answering the tax service’s request with no documents. A few lines give the authority grounds to treat the transactions as unsupported, and that proposition passes into the report and the notice unexamined.
• Missing the one-month deadline after an administrative complaint. Companies count on six months, but after a decision on the complaint the code leaves only a month, and the court closes the case without considering the merits.
• Relying solely on procedural defects in the audit. Procedural arguments work where the audit had no lawful basis, but they will not save a case where the court also sees gaps in the primary documents.
• Ignoring the risk status. While the commission’s risk-criteria decision stands, invoices keep being blocked, and winning on one assessment notice does not restore registration of new invoices.
• Producing evidence only at trial. Documents that suddenly appear a year after the audit are treated with scepticism, and courts often refuse to admit them for want of a good reason.

When you do not need a lawyer

Where the notice concerns an undisputed arithmetical error in a return, or a penalty of a few thousand hryvnia for registering a tax invoice late, bringing in outside counsel does not pay. The company’s accountant files an amended calculation or pays the penalty, and the matter closes faster than a claim could be drafted. The same goes where the tax service itself revokes the decision after explanations and copies of documents are filed through the electronic cabinet. Help is needed where the sum exceeds the cost of defending it, where the report concludes that transactions were fictitious, or where criminal proceedings under Article 212 of the Criminal Code appear alongside the audit.

Questions and answers

How long is there to challenge a tax assessment notice in 2026

For an administrative complaint to the State Tax Service, 10 working days from the day after the notice is received. For a claim to the circuit administrative court, six months — or, where the administrative complaint route has already been used, one month from the day it ended.

Does a complaint to the tax service suspend collection of the assessed sum

Yes. While the administrative complaint runs, the monetary liability is treated as unagreed under paragraph 56.15, so the tax service cannot debit accounts and charges no interest for that period. The obligation to pay arises within 10 working days of the liability being agreed.

What is the court fee on a claim against the tax authority

For a company, a monetary claim costs 1.5 % of its value within a range of 3,328 to 33,280 UAH, and a non-monetary one 3,328 UAH. Filing through the Electronic Court reduces the rate by 20 %; an appeal costs 150 % and a cassation appeal 200 % of the base rate.

What if the tax authority has labelled a counterparty risky

The commission’s risk-criteria decision is challenged separately from the notice, under the procedure in Resolution No. 1165. The complaint is accompanied by the taxpayer’s data table, contracts and documents showing warehouses, transport and staff. Without quashing that decision, new invoices will keep being blocked even after the assessment dispute is won.

Can the order appointing an audit be challenged

It can, but only before the audit begins. Once the company has admitted the auditors, courts treat the right to challenge the order as exhausted and turn to the lawfulness of the notice itself and the sufficiency of the evidence in it.

How long does a tax dispute take in court

A first-instance hearing under the general procedure takes from a few months to a year, depending on the volume of evidence and the number of episodes. An appeal adds several more months, and where the case reaches cassation the whole dispute usually runs beyond two years.

Is it worth litigating where the assessment is small

Compare the notice with the court fee and the legal fees: a dispute over 40,000–50,000 UAH rarely pays for itself. That said, even a small notice concluding that transactions were fictitious is worth challenging, because that conclusion is later used against the company in other audits and in criminal proceedings.

What limitation period applies to tax assessments

The authority may determine a monetary liability within 1,095 days of the deadline for filing the return or of the day it was actually filed (paragraph 102.1). In certain cases, including where no return was filed, that period does not apply.

Can legal fees be recovered from the tax authority

Yes, the costs of professional legal assistance are allocated under Article 139 of the Administrative Procedure Code and recovered from the respondent on a win. The court assesses whether they are proportionate to the value of the claim and the work done, so a detailed calculation, a statement of services rendered and proof of payment are needed.

How does pre-trial settlement differ from an administrative complaint

An administrative complaint is a formal challenge to a specific notice under Article 56. Pre-trial settlement is broader and covers dealing with requests, explanations, unblocking invoices and removing the risk status — steps capable of stopping the dispute before any assessment decision exists.

Sources

• Tax Code of Ukraine, Arts. 56, 73, 78, 86, 102, 123 — zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/2755-17
• Administrative Procedure Code of Ukraine, Arts. 122, 139 — zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/2747-15
• Law of Ukraine “On Court Fees”, Art. 4 — zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/3674-17
• Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 1165 of 11.12.2019 on suspending the registration of tax invoices — zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/1165-2019-п
• Law of Ukraine “On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2026” (subsistence minimum for working-age people, 3,328 UAH)
• State Tax Service of Ukraine — tax.gov.ua
• Unified State Register of Court Decisions — reyestr.court.gov.ua

Tax disputes with Svarog

We run tax disputes from the answer to the tax service’s first request through to cassation: analysing the audit report, drafting the objections and the complaint, building the evidence that the transactions were real, and representing the company in the administrative court. If you have just received a report or a notice, call before the ten-day deadline runs out — at that stage a defence costs less and the outcome is more predictable. More about the practice on the page of our tax disputes lawyer, about the pre-trial stage in the section on pre-trial settlement of tax disputes, and about the court stage in the article on challenging tax assessment notices.

+38 095 554-54-24 · Kyiv, 7 Khoriva Street (Podil) · Mon–Fri 9.00–18.00