Payment of taxes on income received and lack of practical computer skills do not exempt a person authorised to perform the functions of the state or local self-government from the obligation to indicate information on this income in the declaration

The deliberate input of false information in electronic declarations by declarants impedes the financial control of their property status by regulatory authorities and undermines the effectiveness of anti-corruption efforts. Given the negative consequences of declaring false information, the legislator has established the criminal unlawfulness of such an act, which is a legal expression of its social danger.

The opinion was expressed by the Criminal Cassation Court of the Supreme Court when considering the cassation appeals of the prosecutor and the convicted.

In this case, a verdict of a local court, confirmed by the court of appeal, found a deputy of a district council guilty and sentenced him under part 1 of Article 366-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, namely that he, as a declarant, deliberately and knowingly entered false information in the declaration in order to conceal the true information about his income for 2020, which differed from the true information by a total amount exceeding 500 subsistence minimums for able-bodied persons established on the date of submission of the declaration, which he certified with his own qualified electronic signature.

In his appeal, the convicted man argued that he had not concealed information about his income, that he had acted without direct intent to do so, and that his actions therefore did not constitute the offence charged.

According to the SC Criminal Cassation Court, before entering information in the declaration, including the objects of the declaration, the declarant must read the rules for filling in the declaration form. Before signing the declaration, the declarant is warned of liability for declaring false information.

The Criminal Cassation Court of the Supreme Court agreed with the conclusions of the court of first instance that the deputy of the district council, who was the subject of the declaration, being aware of the socially dangerous nature of his act, deliberately entered false information in the 2020 annual declaration in order to conceal the true information about the income received, taking into account the fact that he had a certain number of objects of declaration, some of which he declared and some of which remained undeclared; he was familiarised in writing with the requirements of anti-corruption legislation; the information provided in the declaration differs from the true information by more than 500 subsistence minimums for able-bodied persons and indicates that the person could not have been unaware of the false information and that this is not a typing or calculation error; payment of income tax does not exempt from liability for failure to declare the property from which the income was received; lack of practical computer skills does not justify entering false information in the declaration, including selective reporting of the objects of declaration.

The Resolution of the Criminal Cassation Court of the Supreme Court of March 12, 2024 in case No. 676/4489/22 (proceedings No. 51-4939км23) - https://reyestr.court.gov.ua/Review/117849546.

This and other legal positions of the Supreme Court can be found in the Database of Legal Positions of the Supreme Court - https://lpd.court.gov.ua.