In Odesa, a flower seller was forced to return 11 million to the state

Detectives of the Territorial Department of the Bureau of Economic Security in Odesa region exposed an entrepreneur who organized a tax evasion scheme by splitting his business into individual entrepreneurs.

This was reported by the BES press service.

The suspect sold flowers through a network of retail and wholesale stores. It was established that in order to understate income and maintain the simplified taxation system, he formally registered relatives, friends and employees as individual entrepreneurs who did not actually carry out independent activities. All management decisions were made by the organizer, and the business operated as a single entity. He used an office in Odesa and a warehouse in the industrial zone. Flowers were sold in Odesa and Kyiv. In total, more than 60 people were involved.

"Payment for the flowers was made without the use of payment transaction registers, as well as in a non-cash form with the transfer of funds to the accounts of more than 30 controlled individual entrepreneurs. This mechanism allowed the suspect to conceal the actual sales volumes and evade paying more than UAH 10 million in taxes," said Serhii Muntyan, Head of the Odesa Region Department of the State Bureau of Investigation.

During the searches, detectives seized accounting and tax records of more than 30 individual entrepreneurs, employment records, UAH 511 thousand, draft records, seals and almost 91 thousand flowers. The total value of the seized items is over UAH 10.5 million. The organizer was served a notice of suspicion of tax evasion.

During the pre-trial investigation, the company reimbursed UAH 10.6 million to the budget. In addition, another UAH 1 million was transferred to the needs of the Armed Forces. The business split scheme has now been canceled. The entrepreneur has undertaken to register a legal entity, work within the framework of the Tax Code of Ukraine and officially employ employees.

Кирило Бойко