The restaurant business remains one of the worst in the context of the shadow economy, said Danylo Hetmantsev, chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy. He was met with a lot of criticism from restaurateurs themselves. Komersant ukrainskyi
looked into what was wrong with the MP’s statement and what outraged the restaurant business the most.
“Obviously, one of the worst shadow situations is in the restaurant business. Restaurateurs continue to print several receipts a day or do not make payments through cash registers at all, working in the black. Nevertheless, revenues have increased by 42.6% since the beginning of the year. Tax payments have also increased. However, in July alone, UAH 7.8 million in fines were charged during 674 inspections.”
Danylo Hetmantsev
The parliamentarian also stressed in his Telegram channel that there are many decent restaurateurs. However, tax evasion in times of war is unacceptable, and we must abandon these shameful practices yesterday, the MP stressed.
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Restaurateurs believe the accusations are groundless
Olga Nasonova, director of Restaurant Consulting, said that restaurateurs consider Getmantsev’s statement and his accusations to be groundless.
“He [Getmantsev – ed.] does not understand how the restaurant business works now. 90%, and in some cases 100% of payments are made by card. And it’s all in the black. The money comes from the visitor’s card to either a sole proprietorship or an LLC, which are taxpayers.”
Olga Nasonova
nasonova recalls the beginning of her business 20 years ago. She says that payments were mostly made in cash, with only 10% made by card.
Ukrainians finally abandoned paper money with the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic, the restaurateur notes.
In addition, the restaurant business is already going through difficult times. Profitability is declining – this can be traced back to the start of mass use of debit or credit cards on smartphones by Ukrainians.
“Before people started paying with cards, the profit of restaurants was higher – 30-40%. Now it is 10-15%, if the restaurant is successful. The profitability of the restaurant business has fallen by 2-3 times.”
Olga Nasonova
So the restaurateur rejects all accusations of shady work.
Nowadays, almost the entire restaurant business is transparent, Nasonova assures.
As previously reported by , the restaurant business is facing big changes, as the war and price increases have dictated their own rules.
Author: Anastasia Fedor