The head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy, Danylo Getmantsev, has drawn the attention of the Economic Security Bureau (ESB) and the State Tax Service (STS) to the coffee trade sector, which has become one of the most problematic in terms of tax payments, with state losses reaching UAH 1 billion.
“We all love to start our morning with coffee. But what is a habit for us has long been a sector with significant losses for the state. The problems begin at the customs clearance stage: every third ton of coffee is smuggled in annually, disguised as chicory or without any declaration at all. The leaders in customs clearance are the Kyiv and Lviv customs offices,” he wrote on his Telegram channel.
According to him, the problems do not end at customs: markets and large retail chains, divided into individual entrepreneurs, are also involved in the schemes of selling illegal coffee for cash, with losses amounting to over a billion hryvnia.
The MP reported that in the first nine months of 2025, the industry showed disappointing results, namely: the VAT payment rate increased to 1.45% (+0.28 p.p. compared to 2024), but it is still 0.46 p.p. lower than in 2023, and income tax fell to 0.85% (-0.09 p.p. compared to 2024).
According to Getmantsev, the main risk for the sector is the level of wages, where 89% of taxpayers pay below the market average salary of UAH 12,900, while, according to work.ua, the market average is UAH 22,000. At the same time, more than 18% of enterprises have an average salary below the minimum, which is evidence of the use of tax evasion schemes.
“It is obvious that a significant part of the industry is in the shadows. The question to the tax authorities is: what is the matter with tax control, where are the cash registers/payment terminals?” said the head of the parliamentary committee, calling on the BEB and the DNS to take urgent measures to de-shadow the coffee industry.
