Assessment of the effectiveness of controlling bodies in detecting and preventing violations of tax and customs legislation

Abstract

The article is devoted to the assessment of the effectiveness of tax and customs authorities of Ukraine in detecting, preventing, and countering violations of tax and customs legislation under martial law and European integration processes. The purpose of the study is to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the performance of controlling bodies (State Tax Service and State Customs Service) for the period 2023–2025, to identify positive trends and systemic problems in the mechanisms of fiscal control. The paper examines international standards for evaluating the effectiveness of tax administration (TADAT, OECD and IMF recommendations) and modern approaches to risk-oriented control. Based on official data from the State Customs Service and analytical reports, the key performance indicators of customs authorities were evaluated, including the number and value of detected violations, the level of sanctions collection, the dynamics of shadow imports, digitalization of processes, and corruption risks. The study reveals positive dynamics in the detection of offenses: in 2025, the total value of detected customs violations reached 10.9 billion UAH, with the average value per violation more than doubling. At the same time, a significant imbalance was identified between high efficiency at the detection stage and a critically low level of actual collection of sanctions (less than 1% in 2025).