Reforming of the Object of Income Tax: A Retrospective Analysis of the Legal Framework

Stability and reasonableness in calculating the object of income tax, on which the filling of the country's budget significantly depends, are important factors for developing a business and the national economy. The article's purpose is a retrospective analysis of the legal framework of the method for determining the object of income tax in the context of the duality of its nature as an accounting and financial category. The results of such an analysis form the basis for determining further ways to improve the income tax accounting method. The legislative changes that formed and supplemented the functioning mechanism of the income tax during the Soviet era were revealed. The article assesses in detail the steps taken by the government of independent Ukraine to update the legislative framework on income tax and bring it into line with the requirements of the market environment. An analysis of the evolution of the object of taxation, expansion of the list of taxpayers, and changes in benefits for paying income tax was carried out. Based on the results of the analysis, a periodization of the stages of the development of the legal framework for income tax was developed, which consists of seven periods: the formation of income tax in various forms; initiation of the methodology for determining the object of income tax; development of the Ukrainian system of corporate income taxation; improvement of the methodology of the tax base and the collection and control mechanism; the occurrence of tax accounting to determine the tax object; reforming the Ukrainian tax system; integration of accounting and tax accounting. The study results show that during the entire period of development of the income tax system, there was no single strategy for reforming the method of determining the object of tax. The development and adoption of such a plan could improve the quality of the income tax system by ensuring greater efficiency, simplifying procedures and stimulating business development.