17 Sole Proprietorships and UAH 84 million in income: ESBU shuts down business-splitting scheme in Mykolaiv region

 A female entrepreneur who organized a scheme to artificially split a business to minimize tax liabilities has repaid nearly UAH 12 million in unpaid taxes and penalties to the state budget. Detectives from the Territorial Office of the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine in the Odesa region exposed and completely shut down the tax evasion mechanism.

During the pre-trial investigation, it was established that the owner of a grocery mini-market chain involved relatives, acquaintances, and employees, registering them as separate sole proprietorships. Food products were sold through the accounts of these controlled sole proprietorships, which allowed her to hide real income and avoid paying taxes in full.

The management of financial flows and tax reporting was actually carried out solely by the organizer of the scheme. Using a network of 17 controlled sole proprietorships, she hid the real volume of income from business activity.

The total revenue from the sale of goods amounted to nearly UAH 84 million, but these funds were not reflected in the tax reporting. Later, the suspect submitted a declaration with false information, failing to report the actual income received. According to the investigation's conclusions, these actions led to the non-payment of over UAH 11.6 million in taxes to the state budget.

The evidence collected by detectives, witness testimony, analytical study results, and the conclusion of the forensic economic expertise confirmed the use of the network of controlled sole proprietorships to hide income and understate tax liabilities.

The entrepreneur was notified of suspicion under Part 3 of Article 212 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (tax evasion on an especially large scale).

During the pre-trial investigation, the woman admitted her guilt, agreed with the expert's conclusions, and fully repaid the damages caused to the state.

Given the full repayment of damages, the prosecutor petitioned the court to release her from criminal liability in accordance with the requirements of current legislation.

By the time the pre-trial investigation was completed, the business splitting scheme was completely shut down. The entrepreneur committed to registering a legal entity and carrying out business activity in accordance with the Tax Code of Ukraine, including officially hiring employees.

Analysts of the Territorial Office of the ESBU in the Odesa region will continue to track the dynamics of tax revenues from this enterprise's activity to prevent repeated tax evasion.

Procedural guidance in the case is provided by prosecutors of the Odesa Regional Prosecutor's Office. According to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime until their guilt is proven in accordance with the law and established by a court's verdict of guilty.

"In total, ESBU detectives in the Odesa region are conducting pre-trial investigations into 9 criminal proceedings regarding business splitting by local chains. In 2026, 3 proceedings have already been sent to court. At the same time, 3 enterprises abandoned such schemes and switched to the general tax system. The total amount of funds repaid to the budget in these proceedings is nearly UAH 32.8 million," noted Serhiy Muntyan, Head of the Territorial Office of the ESBU in the Odesa region.