DIGITAL TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGIES IN THE TAX ADMINISTRATION SYSTEM OF UKRAINE: ANALYSIS, CLASSIFICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES

Abstract

This article presents a comprehensive analysis of the current state, classification, and systemic challenges of implementing digital tools and technologies within Ukraine's tax administration system. The study's relevance stems from a paradoxical situation: on one hand, Ukraine demonstrates impressive indicators of digital transformation in public administration, having created an extensive ecosystem of tax services. This is evidenced by the mass adoption of the Taxpayer's E-cabinet (used by over 1.5 million citizens and 2.8 million self-employed individuals), the "My Tax" mobile application (over 90,000 users), integration with the "Diia" portal, and an e-reporting rate of almost 98%. On the other hand, these quantitative successes conceal a significant "implementation gap" – a disparity between the ad-vanced technological capabilities offered by the state and the actual capacity of a large segment of society and business to use them effectively. The author argues that this gap is deepening under the conditions of the full-scale war, which destroys infrastructure and exacerbates socio-economic inequality. Consequently, a "digital tax divide" is emerging: technologically prepared business entities gain advantages from simplified procedures, while others, particularly in rural areas or with low digital literacy (which stood at 59.6% in 2023), face new barriers. This leads to errors, in-creased compliance costs, and a sense of social exclusion. Thus, the scientific problem lies in the absence of a systemic analysis of the entire complex of digital tools as a unified ecosystem and an assessment of the cross-cutting challenges of their operation. The article aims to systematize and analyze the main digital tools used in Ukraine's tax administra-tion, develop their functional classification, and critically evaluate the benefits achieved and the systemic problems of implementation. The study provides a detailed analysis of functional tools. It examines the core of the system – the Tax-payer's E-cabinet, the "My Tax" mobile application, and the integration with the "Diia" portal through the comprehen-sive "e-Entrepreneur" service. Special attention is given to specific systems like the Electronic VAT Administration System (E-VAT system), which, despite its effectiveness in combating fraud, is characterized by the systemic problem of mass blocking of tax invoices. The system of cash registers (RRO/PRRO) as a tool for controlling cash transactions is also analyzed. A particular emphasis is placed on innovative technologies in tax analytics and auditing. The transition to e-audit based on the Standard Audit File for Tax (SAF-T UA) is examined in detail; its implementation from 2025–2027 marks a paradigm shift from selective on-site inspections to comprehensive remote data analysis. The author ar-gues that combining SAF-T with Big Data and Artificial Intelligence technologies creates the foundation for a transi-tion to a preventive taxation model and, in the long term, to "e-assessment," where the tax authority independently cal-culates the tax liability. A key result of the work is the author's detailed functional classification of digital tax admin-istration tools. They are grouped into nine categories: tools for electronic interaction, taxpayer services, product ac-counting, analytics and forecasting, tax control, transparency and security, tax payment, integration, and information and education. This classification allows for a systemic understanding of the complex architecture of the digital tax system and the interconnections between its elements. In conclusion, the author states that despite the undeniable ad-vantages of digitalization (efficiency, transparency, reduced administrative burden), its success is constrained by a set of systemic problems. These are grouped into three blocks: 1) legislative and financial (lagging legislation, high cost of IT systems); 2) technological and infrastructural (technical failures, unequal access to the internet, cyber threats); and 3) human capital and social issues (low digital literacy, the risk of "information asymmetry," and the non-transparency of algorithms). The main conclusion of the article is that further progress in the digitalization of the tax sphere depends not so much on creating new tools as on purposefully bridging the "implementation gap." This requires strategic in-vestments in improving the digital literacy of the population, building a resilient and inclusive infrastructure, and en-suring the transparency and accountability of the digital systems themselves. Prospects for further research are linked to the quantitative assessment of the impact of digitalization on the economy, sociological studies of the "digital divide", analysis of the cybersecurity of the fiscal system, and research into the fairness and impartiality of artificial intelligence algorithms in tax control.