A Hrodna entrepreneur has been found guilty of large-scale tax evasion. He was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment with a fine of 2,000 base units (90,000 Belarusian rubles), without deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities. The court applied a two-year suspension of the prison sentence.
According to the prosecutor’s office, the case involving the 55-year-old entrepreneur was related to so-called business splitting.
“From 2016 to 2021, the accused carried out activities involving the leasing of real estate properties in his own name as an individual entrepreneur, as well as on behalf of four other business entities registered to close relatives. The ‘artificially’ created business entities made it possible to distribute revenue from the accused individual entrepreneur’s business activities in such a way as to avoid exceeding the established gross revenue limits for individual entrepreneurs, beyond which the accused would not have been able to apply the simplified taxation system,” the prosecutor’s office said.
The amount of damage was estimated at 930,000 Belarusian rubles. The accused admitted guilt and compensated for the damage.