“BEB is investigating cases of tax evasion and smuggling in the field of electronics tradeBEB is investigating tax evasion and smuggling in the field of electronics trade. Under suspicion are the networks Yabko and
Yabluka, where massive violations were detected.”, — write: unn.ua
Details
Detectives of the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine are conducting a pre-trial investigation in a number of criminal proceedings on the facts of tax evasion and smuggling of goods in the field of electronics trade and smuggling of goods
According to UNN sources, the investigative actions cover the facts of supplying equipment of well-known brands to the territory of Ukraine. We are talking about more than 30 criminal proceedings and suspicions of 7 persons, part of the materials have already been submitted to the court for consideration.
We decided to contact the Unified Register of Court Decisions. Among the hundreds of court documents related to investigations into tax evasion or smuggling of goods, we found those related to quite well-known among Ukrainians networks that sell household appliances.
For example, in one of the proceedings, the court arrested property seized during a search of an individual entrepreneur who cooperated with the company. Among other things, more than 1,200 thousand units of equipment without relevant documents were recorded, including new iPhones, iPads and other devices that were in stock without registration in the RRO system.
In the process of selling goods through the network of “Yabko” stores and the online store, business entities do not use registrars of settlement operations (RRO/PRRO), the consistency of these actions indicates a deliberate concealment of the object of taxation, which affects the total amount of taxes paid to the budget
In another court ruling, we see the following:
“According to the conclusion of the analytical study, it was established that the actual type of economic activity of LLC “INFORMATION_2” (EDRPOU code NUMBER_1) is the sale of electronic devices, mobile phones, computer, household appliances, components and accessories, mainly produced by “Apple Inc.” and other manufacturers. Officials of LLC ” INFORMATION_2 ” (EDRPOU code NUMBER_1 ) in the period 2021-2024 carried out the sale of these goods to affiliated individuals – entrepreneurs (non-payers), and in the future, using their details, sold them through the network of stores “INFORMATION_4” to the end consumer without proper reflection of such transactions in accounting and tax reporting to minimize the company’s profit tax. Thus, the total aggregate income received from the activities of these individuals-entrepreneurs for the period from 01.01.2021 to 01.07.2024, amounted to UAH 369,076,288.48.
Taking into account the above, officials of LLC “INFORMATION_2 ” (EDRPOU code NUMBER_1) in violation of p.44.1 of Article 44, sub-paragraph134.1.1 of paragraph 134.1 of Article 134 of the Tax Code of Ukraine, understated income from any activity (excluding indirect taxes), determined according to the rules of accounting in the total amount of UAH 570,784,373, as a result of which the company’s income was understated by a total amount of UAH 369,076,288, which led to tax evasion in the amount of UAH 66,433,731, which is a particularly large amount.”
After studying other court documents, we found out that we are talking about LLC “INNOVATIONS OF THE XXI CENTURY” (which recently changed its name to “INNOVATIONS TODAY”) and is directly related to the network of stores “YABLUKA”.
Similar cases are becoming a threatening practice and indicate a large-scale problem in the field of electronics trade.
The shadow segment of this market, which causes significant losses to the state budget due to non-payment of taxes and customs payments, was previously drew attention to the European Business Association, and representatives of the American Chamber of Commerce noted that only due to non-payment of VAT on certain models of smartphones, losses for Ukraine could reach UAH 5.5 billion (more than USD 135 million).
Let us remind youAbout a month ago, the State Tax Service of Ukraine revealed schemes of VAT evasion for more than UAH 286 million in the “Yabko” and Yabluka networks. The head of the agency, Ruslan Kravchenko, said that during the inspections, tax officials discovered massive facts of trade without the use of RRO/PRRO and the absence of documents on the origin of equipment. At the same time, the State Tax Service also transferred to law enforcement officers the facts of artificial division of sales by the above-mentioned networks: legal entities involved up to 300 related sole proprietors on a simplified system. Tax officials identified 170 entrepreneurs involved in these manipulations. Their total revenue is UAH 1.72 billion.