We will write the price to you in direct messages - the State Tax Service will look for shadow business on social networks at Hetmantsev's instruction

The State Tax Service is tightening control over unregistered businesses and sales without cash registers (RRO), analyzing information on social networks. On 18 August, Member of Parliament Olga Vasilevska-Smaglyuk reported this on her Telegram channel. According to her, to detect tax evasion schemes the STS will analyze TikTok, Instagram, Telegram, Viber, and WhatsApp. These measures are provided for by the decision of the parliamentary Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy concerning the de-shadowing of the economy. This committee is chaired by MP Danylo Hetmantsev.

The MP explained that the inspection mechanism will operate in two directions at once. There the STS will search for anomalies in the operations of registered businesses that are required to use RRO/PRRO, identify risky taxpayers, and audit them. At the same time, separate work will continue with those who sell online entirely outside the tax system.

According to Vasilevska-Smaglyuk, the following algorithm of actions is provided for sellers who operate on social networks without registration:

identification of such sellers jointly with the National Police;

conducting explanatory work with them;

fining in case violations are established;

a requirement to legalize the business.

"However, work will also be carried out regarding those sellers of goods and services who operate via the internet and social networks but are not registered taxpayers at all. The STS should identify them jointly with the National Police, carry out explanatory work, and, if violations are established — fine them and require them to legalize their business. These measures are provided for by the decision of the parliamentary Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy concerning the de-shadowing of the economy. In August the STS informed the Committee about the implementation of the relevant instructions," wrote Olga Vasilevska-Smaglyuk.

The state is stepping up pressure on the shadow segment of trade

The idea of monitoring social networks is part of a broader strategy to de-shadow the economy that the parliamentary committee has been promoting for some time. Sellers who conduct business through direct messages on TikTok or Instagram have long remained outside the attention of fiscal authorities, since traditional inspections focused primarily on offline points with RRO.

Now the tax authority is trying to close this gap by combining analysis of open internet data with joint work with the police. For businesses that are already registered but hide part of their sales, the risk of detecting anomalies is increasing, since algorithms will analyze discrepancies between social media activity and official figures reported through RRO/PRRO.

Earlier Informator reported that Vasilevska-Smaglyuk apologized to PrivatBank for an incorrect explanation of the reasons for account blocking due to the coincidence of two women's names. The deputy acknowledged that she initially misexplained the situation as supposedly due to FATF status, while in fact the bank was checking a number of other risks, including corruption and money laundering.

We also wrote that the MP purchased a Jeep Grand Cherokee during the war costing almost 2 million hryvnias, declaring this purchase in the year 2022. The deputy’s family also has a Jaguar I-PACE, which she uses herself, although the car is registered to her brother.