The new unified register of VAT refunds should make most common wrongdoings impossible, Ukrainian Finance Minister Oleksandr Danyliuk has said.

He also said that corrupt officials in the State Fiscal Service would be punished for wrongdoings revealed: the Finance Ministry would study the whole register of VAT refunds for 2016 and early 2017 (before the launch of the new register). Each payment will be checked.

"The new register has been launched. It removes opportunities for wrongdoings. We would settle the things happened earlier: someone must be punished," the minister said at a briefing in Kyiv on Wednesday.

He said that the new register guarantees automatic approval of the VAT sum for refunding. The system does not require conclusions of the State Fiscal Service.

"The register we have launched has advantages: it is transparent, unified and automatic. The Finance Ministry administrates the register. The register is formed automatically on the basis of information received from the database of the State Fiscal Service and the treasury. Transparent and on-schedule refunding of VAT is guaranteed, as VAT sums are automatically approved on the 31st day, in some cases foreseen in Ukrainian law – no more than 61 days," the minister said.

He added that applications submission via the new system has started.

Danyliuk also said that the Finance Ministry analyzed the VAT refunding system for ten months of 2016 and studied 100 companies in three parameters: the sum refunded, time and chronology of refunding. The results showed that 72 companies at least for one month have the unjustifiable reduction of the sum for refunding. Only these 72 companies potentially did not receive around UAH 3.2 billion due to unlawful actions of officials from the State Fiscal Service.