Kremenchuk trading network MarketOpt announced its refusal to use a business fragmentation scheme and a complete reorganization of its accounting, reporting, and operational systems. The decision was made following inspections conducted by regulatory authorities.
Business fragmentation is a classic tax burden minimization scheme: a large company is artificially split into several smaller legal entities, each of which falls under a simplified tax system. Formally — separate enterprises. In reality — a single network with unified management and a single beneficiary. In wartime conditions, when the state budget critically depends on tax revenues, such schemes have a direct cost — underfunded hospitals, delays in military payments, deficits in the state treasury.
MarketOpt is not a small player. The network covers dozens of retail outlets in Kremenchuk and the region, serving thousands of customers daily. The scale of business makes the fragmentation scheme particularly noticeable for the budget — and especially significant as a precedent.
The company promised to conduct reorganization voluntarily and comprehensively. However, the chronology of events speaks for itself: first inspections — then promises. No public mechanism for monitoring the reorganization has been announced yet: neither deadlines, nor independent audit, nor accountability to the community.
It is significant that similar cases in Ukraine almost always develop according to the same scenario: businesses optimize taxes until a check arrives. After that — repentance and restructuring. There is effectively no systemic incentive to come out of the shadows before an inspection.
The question is not whether MarketOpt will keep its promise — but whether a public mechanism for verifying this reorganization will emerge that can be checked a year from now.
