The number of taxpayers who declared about the refunding of value added tax (VAT) in 2018 grew by 1,000, to 5,000 applications, acting Head of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine Oleksandr Vlasov has said.

"We are recording an increase in applications for VAT refund from the budget. Thus, in 2018, the number of taxpayers who claimed this tax refund was more than 5,000. This is almost 1,000 more applications than last year," the press service of the State Fiscal Service reported, citing Vlasov.

The average monthly claim for VAT refunds in 2018 increased by 20%, to UAH 11.5 billion. At the same time, more than 85% of the amounts claimed for refunding are returned during the month, the authority said.

At the same time, the average monthly VAT refund increased in the current year by UAH 1.1 billion, to UAH 10.8 billion, according to the authority.

According to the State Treasury Service, in January-October 2018, VAT was refunded to the amount of UAH 107.9 billion, which is 11% higher than the year-over-year figure. The October compensation amounted to UAH 10.3 billion compared to UAH 12.46 billion in September 2018 and UAH 9.7 billion in October 2017.