The Tax and Customs Service denied the children of the deceased a payment of 15 million hryvnias due to their registered address
The Zaporizhzhia District Administrative Court ruled that the refusal by the TCC and the Joint Stock Company to accept applications from the four children of a deceased servicemember for a one-time cash benefit was unlawful. The TCC claimed that the documents were not submitted at the place of registration and did not follow the prescribed form, but the court determined that the rules allow applications to be submitted to the TCC regardless of place of residence. The agency was ordered to accept the documents and continue the review process.
This concerns Case No. 280/6027/26, which was heard by the Zaporizhzhia District Administrative Court. The plaintiffs were the four children of a servicemember who died while serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. On April 19, 2026, applications were filed on behalf of the children for a one-time cash benefit in connection with their father’s death. This referred to the payment provided for family members of military personnel killed during martial law.
Through a representative, the children sent the applications and necessary documents to the district TCC and SP by registered mail. The request was for a one-time payment of 15 million hryvnias. However, on April 29, the TCC and SP, in four separate letters, refused to accept the applications for further consideration.
Two reasons were cited. The TCC considered that the applications had been drafted in an arbitrary format. Furthermore, according to the center’s representatives, the documents were not submitted to the proper authority. It was this refusal that the children of the deceased challenged in court.
The TCC Cited the Place of Registration
In court, representatives of the TCC and the SP insisted that the applications should have been submitted to the center at the applicants’ place of registration. The TCC also stated that the documents should have been prepared in the prescribed form. In the defendant’s view, the submitted applications did not meet this requirement. For this reason, the TCC asked the court to deny the children’s claim.
The plaintiffs disagreed. They emphasized that the law does not require them to apply specifically to the TCC at their place of registration. Furthermore, their father had been mobilized through this territorial center at the time. Therefore, in the children’s view, the Territorial Mobilization Center had no grounds to simply return the documents and terminate their review.
What the Law Says
The court drew attention to the rules governing the provision of one-time financial assistance to the families of deceased military personnel. The Law “On Social and Legal Protection of Military Personnel and Members of Their Families” defines such assistance as a payment guaranteed by the state. In particular, the children of a deceased military servicemember are entitled to this assistance.
The payment is provided in the event of a servicemember’s death while performing military duties. The assistance is distributed in equal shares among those who are entitled to it. In other words, the amount of the payment depends on the number of family members who are eligible and have applied for assistance.
In this case, the court also applied the Procedure approved by Order No. 45 of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine dated January 25, 2023. It is this document that specifies how family members of a deceased servicemember should apply for assistance and how the Territorial Center for Social Support (TCSS) should process the documents.
Is a Permanent Residence Registration Important?
This became one of the main issues in the case. The court drew attention to paragraph 4.1 of Procedure No. 45. It explicitly states that family members may apply to the district or city TCC and SP regardless of their place of registration.
In other words, the requirement to apply exclusively based on one’s residence registration does not comply with the established procedure in this case. A similar rule is explicitly provided for in the Ministry of Defense’s order itself: the application is submitted to the district or city TCC regardless of the applicant’s place of registration. The court also noted that the district or city TCC must not only accept the documents but also forward them in accordance with the procedure.
Upon receiving the required set of documents, the TCC must certify the copies and, no later than seven business days, forward the materials to the regional TCC and the relevant military unit. If any documents are missing, this does not mean that the application can simply be rejected. The procedure stipulates that the TCC must take steps to locate the missing documents, including sending appropriate requests to the military unit, medical facility, or other authorities.
What About the Application Form?
Separately, the court considered the TCC’s argument that the applications were allegedly filled out incorrectly. During the proceedings, the court reviewed the documents submitted by the children of the deceased soldier. As a result, the court determined that the applications complied with the form specified in Appendix 1 to Procedure No. 45.
Therefore, this ground for denial was also not substantiated. In other words, the court found no grounds for the TCC to refuse to accept the documents based on the format of the applications or the children’s place of registration.
The TCC does not decide on payments on its own
It is also important to note that at this stage, the district TCC does not make a final decision on whether to grant or deny benefits. Its role is to accept the documents, review them, process the materials, and forward them according to procedure.
Afterward, the regional Social Security Administration reviews the received documents and determines who has provided documentary evidence of their eligibility for benefits. The materials are then forwarded for consideration of the benefit award. Therefore, in the court’s opinion, the district Social Security Administration had no grounds to independently block the processing of applications based on the children’s place of registration.
The Court’s Ruling
The Zaporizhzhia District Administrative Court fully granted the claim filed by the children of the deceased servicemember. The court ruled that the refusal by the TCC and the Social Protection Department, as set forth in four letters dated April 29, 2026, was unlawful. The TCC was also ordered to follow the procedure set forth in Order No. 45—that is, to accept the children’s documents, process them, and forward the materials to the regional TCC and the Social Protection Department through the appropriate chain of command.
At the same time, it is important to note that the court did not directly order the payment of 15 million hryvnias to the children. The decision concerns the TCC’s unlawful refusal to accept the documents and the obligation to continue the application review process. Thus, the issue of granting the benefits themselves must go through the stages prescribed by law.
Why This Decision Is Important
In this case, the court effectively confirmed a simple rule: family members of a deceased servicemember do not have to seek out the TCC solely based on their place of registration. Regulation No. 45 allows applicants to submit a claim to a district or city TCC regardless of their place of registration. It is then up to the TCC itself to accept the documents and forward them according to the established procedure.
Therefore, a refusal based solely on the fact that the applicant is registered elsewhere does not comply with this regulation. In this case, the court also highlighted a general principle governing the actions of government authorities: they must act only within the scope of their authority and in a manner expressly provided for by law. The court’s decision may be appealed within 30 days.
