The Conscientious Taxpayer award was only formally introduced in 2011, but it goes back to the first Ukrainian Taxpayers Association which was founded in 1998, and it includes citizens and non-citizens on the territory of Ukraine. The Association has participated and initiated many projects offering support to all taxpayers within the country.
In 2011, they introduced the Conscientious Taxpayer award which is supposed to acknowledge the efforts of taxpayers and their honesty in a somewhat liberal tax society.
The Memorandum of tax relations signed between the Association and the State Taxation Service in 2011 gave way to introducing the award for taxpayers as a formal annual event.
The Goal
The main goal and purpose of the Taxpayer Award is to raise the awareness on paying taxes and to encourage others to start keeping a neat record of taxes and tax returns as many Ukrainian businesses rely on different methods to outmaneuver the tax system by giving employees up to half of their salaries over the counter off the record. It established a better cooperation between taxpayers and companies and the taxation authorities.
The Winners
The first company to receive the Conscientious Taxpayer Award was ZTR in 2012, whereby many renowned companies applied like Lafarge. The ceremony was attended by the regional taxation authority representatives, a number of NGOs, and the media at the Rivne Regional State Administration.
The committee consists of three member and the criteria taken into account are completeness, accuracy, punctuality, tax debt, timeliness of employees’ paychecks, and others. The award ceremony is held every year and is slowly becoming a tradition.