The Senate at the plenary session on Friday approved the Tax Consulting Activities Bill, which was developed in place of the 2006 Tax Consulting Law, the Senate reported.

The Bill is with supplemented with a provision that tax consulting activities must be independent of the influence of state bodies and other organizations and officials.

According to the principle of independence, tax consultants may refuse to provide tax consulting services if there are circumstances that impede the independence of their activities.

The Bill contains a specified list of tax consulting services:

• advising a client (principal) on calculation and payment of taxes and fees, preparation and submission of tax returns;
• preparation of tax reporting (declaration), including its submission on behalf of the client (principal) through his personal account;
• preparation of documents to be submitted to the tax authorities for the return and (or) repayment of tax arrears at the expense of excessively collected or overpaid taxes, granting a deferral or installment plan for the payment of taxes;
• tax accounting;
• determination of objects of taxation and objects related to taxation;
• analysis and assessment of tax and financial risks, providing the client (principal) with recommendations on the application of tax benefits;
• representation in courts, law enforcement and regulatory authorities in the consideration of economic, civil, criminal and administrative cases related to tax legal relations;
• verification of the correctness of the fulfillment by the client (principal) of his tax obligations for a certain period, including in the event of voluntary liquidation, and more.

The Ministry of Finance (formerly the Cabinet of Ministers) is proposed as the authorized state body in the field of tax consulting.

The authority to develop and coordinate activities in the field of tax consulting are to be transferred to the Chamber of Tax Consultants, which is a public organization. In particular, such basic functions of the Ministry of Finance as issuing, reissuing, terminating the tax consultant's certificate, raising the professional level of tax consultants and others are also proposed to be transferred to it.

The law emphasizes that the members of the chamber retain their independence in carrying out their activities.

An Expert Council of Tax Advisers is to be established under the Chamber of Tax Advisers. It considers and issues opinions on systematically arising tax disputes between taxpayers and regulatory authorities, an expert assessment of proposals for amendments to tax legislation, and also develops proposals for its improvement.

The conclusions of the expert council on tax disputes are to be accepted for consideration by the regulatory authorities.