Ukraine Steps Up Fight Against Shadow Economy, PM Koretskyi Outlines Priorities

(MENAFN- UkrinForm) Prime Minister of Ukraine Sergii Koretskyi announced this on Telegram, Ukrinform reports.

“Together with government officials, members of parliament, and the heads of the Bureau of Economic Security, the National Police, the tax service and the customs service, we have identified priority measures to eliminate/reduce the shadow economy,” the statement said.

According to Koretskyi, the initiative aims to prevent or eliminate illegal schemes, generate additional revenue for the state budget, and ensure a level playing field for businesses that operate legally and pay taxes.

The priority measures include:

• Combating the illegal production and circulation of tobacco products, as well as taxation of electronic cigarettes and e-liquids;
• Combating smuggling;
• Eliminating tax evasion schemes;
• Tackling fraud in the gambling industry, among other measures.

Particular and detailed attention was paid at the meeting to strengthening oversight of the import, registration and intended use of humanitarian aid brought into Ukraine.

As Koretskyi stressed, there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the term“humanitarian aid” is being used to facilitate criminal schemes.

The Ministry of Social Policy, together with the relevant government agencies, will prepare amendments to the applicable regulations.

Read also: Spending on resilience plans unlocked, all deferred payments to communities to be made – PM Koretskyi

The participants also considered introducing electronic contracts and invoices for formalizing agreements and billing, as well as enabling automatic data exchange. The necessary legislative amendments will be prepared to this end.

The Prime Minister emphasized that specific tasks, deadlines and responsible parties had been established for each area. Progress reports are to be submitted monthly.

As reported, the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine, together with the State Tax Service and the Main Service Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, has introduced an analytical tool to detect tax evasion schemes involving the import and sale of cars.

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