Despite the loud statements of the head of the parliamentary finance committee, Danylo Hetmantsev, about the fight against the “gray” electronics market, large-scale tax evasion schemes in Ukraine continue to operate without interruption. And while the budget loses tens of billions of hryvnias every year, retail chains such as Yabko, Avic, and iPeople are opening new points of sale and quietly expanding.
The key part of the scheme is fictitious individual entrepreneurs. In the case of the Yabko network, there are at least 300 interconnected individual entrepreneurs registered as third parties. Turnovers are deliberately broken down into small amounts so as not to cross the threshold beyond which the full tax burden begins to apply. At the same time, the actual turnover of the companies can reach hundreds of millions of hryvnias.
Another “gray” area is cryptocurrency. In stores, customers are directly offered to pay for purchases in bitcoins or ether. QR codes for transfers are generated on the spot, which means there are no traces in the banking system. The alternative is to simply transfer the money to the employee’s bank card. All these flows are then “laundered” through crypto exchanges and often taken abroad to invest in real estate, cars, or corporate rights.
The third component is the smuggling of equipment. It is imported “on the black market”, without paying customs duties. According to insiders, customs officers and border guards are involved in the process. For assistance in the passage of consignments, the amount of bribes ranges from 50 to 200 dollars per unit, depending on the volume of the cargo.
And although there have been recent reports of raids on these chains, this has not stopped their development. New stores continue to appear, and tax returns remain “clean” thanks to hundreds of shell companies.
Danylo Hetmantsev has repeatedly called the “gray” electronics market one of the key areas of budget losses. But so far, the state appears to be only an observer — market players are strengthening their positions, and shadow profits continue to settle in private pockets.
