Can an heir reclaim overpaid or mistakenly paid contributions after the death of an individual entrepreneur?

The Main Department of the State Tax Service in Kyiv clarifies whether an heir has the right to reclaim overpaid or mistakenly paid amounts of the single contribution in the event of the death of an individual entrepreneur (IE).

It is noted that according to Article 1216 of the Civil Code of Ukraine dated January 16, 2003, No. 435-IV, inheritance is the transition of rights and obligations (inheritance) from a deceased individual (testator) to other persons (heirs).

According to the first part of Article 4 of the Law of Ukraine dated July 8, 2010, No. 2464-VI "On the Collection and Accounting of the Single Contribution for Mandatory State Social Insurance" with amendments and additions (hereinafter referred to as Law No. 2464), the payers of the single contribution for mandatory state social insurance (hereinafter referred to as the single contribution) include, among others, individual entrepreneurs, including individual entrepreneurs who have chosen a simplified taxation system (excluding electronic residents (e-residents)).

Article 6 of Law No. 2464 defines the rights and obligations of single contribution payers.

According to the thirteenth part of Article 9 of Law No. 2464, amounts of mistakenly paid single contributions are credited towards future single contribution payments or refunded to the payers in the manner and within the time frames determined by the central executive authority responsible for forming and implementing state financial policy, in agreement with the central executive authority implementing state policy in the area of treasury servicing of budget funds, the Pension Fund, and the Fund for Mandatory State Social Insurance of Ukraine in case of unemployment.

The refund of single contribution funds in cases of erroneous or excessive payments is provided for by the Procedure for Crediting Towards Future Payments of the Single Contribution for Mandatory State Social Insurance or Refund of Excessively and/or Mistakenly Paid Funds, approved by the Order of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine dated July 23, 2021, No. 417 (hereinafter referred to as the Procedure).

A mandatory condition for the refund of excess and/or mistakenly paid amounts of the single contribution is the payer's application for a refund, which must be submitted to the controlling authority where the amounts of the single contribution were paid, in cases established by paragraph 5 of the Procedure (paragraph 6 of the Procedure).

Therefore, in the event of the death of an individual entrepreneur (excluding electronic residents (e-residents) who are payers of the single contribution), their heir does not have the right to reclaim overpaid or mistakenly paid amounts of the single contribution, as, according to Law No. 2464, the heir is not considered a payer of the single contribution and does not have the rights and obligations of a payer.