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Feb. 16, 2026, 8:08 p.m.
Billion-dollar tax evasion scheme uncovered in Odesa region
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PHOTO: BAB
The territorial office of the Bureau of Economic Security in Odesa region has announced the elimination of a tax minimization scheme for importing goods.
According to the BES press service, the scheme involved importing companies registered in Odesa region with a total volume of supplies of more than UAH 1.6 billion.
The BES analysts found that a group of people in Odesa and Dnipro regions were operating through controlled companies to illegally form a tax credit. When importing consumer goods, the documents changed their nomenclature - the actual products were reflected as cardboard, building materials or mineral fertilizers. This allowed them to create a fictitious tax credit and reduce their VAT liabilities.
To avoid blocking tax invoices, the scheme involved 17 companies with a positive tax history. They were previously registered in Dnipropetrovska, Kharkivska and Kyivska oblasts. These companies had a positive tax history, which ensured unconditional registration of tax invoices. In addition, they had fixed assets on their balance sheets, and their activities were related to the production of goods or wholesale trade in construction materials, including former factories and manufacturing enterprises.
At the same time, in late 2024 and early 2025, these companies were re-registered to other persons, changed their place of state registration to Odesa region and registered with the Main Department of the State Tax Service in Odesa region.
The companies that took advantage of the illegally generated tax credit were individual entities in the real sector of the economy. By using this tax credit, they reduced the amount of value added tax payable to the state budget. As a result, VAT tax liabilities were artificially low.
