How Mikhail Maslov minimises taxes

38-year-old Mikhail Maslov, who actively runs a business in Ukraine, has significantly increased his wealth recently. In 2023, he became the owner of a 2023 BMW XM, worth approximately 250,000 US dollars. His fleet also includes five other vehicles, including a 2020 Porsche Taycan Turbo, which is worth approximately 70,000 dollars on the market.

Rapid growth and suspicious companies

Maslov is the founder of several companies, but not all of them are successful. Two companies, LLC "Senk" and LLC "VSU" (Well Service Ukraine), are loss-making and registered with only one employee, which raises suspicions about the fictitious nature of these firms. However, this has not prevented Maslov from successfully developing other businesses, which have become key sources of his income.

State procurement and multi-million contracts

Mikhail Maslov is the founder of LLC "Kyiv Energy Company" and LLC "KEnK" (Kryvyi Rih Energy Company). Both companies have recently won major tenders for the supply of electricity and other services. For example, in September and October 2024, "Kyiv Energy Company" won a tender for the supply of electricity to the municipal enterprise "Vinnytsia Transport Company" for an amount of nearly 435 million hryvnias. In parallel, "KEnK" signed a contract with the same enterprise in 2023 for an amount exceeding 150 million hryvnias.

Dividends that exceed profits

Interestingly, despite the success of his companies, Maslov received dividends from them that many times exceed the official profits of these firms. For example, from "Kyiv Energy Company" in 2023 he received 1,075,000 hryvnias (approximately 28,630 dollars), while the company's profit was only 514,600 hryvnias (approximately 13,700 dollars). 

This means that Maslov received dividends that more than twice the firm's net profit. According to Ukrainian tax legislation, dividends that exceed the company's net income must be subject to personal income tax and the military levy, however, according to our data, Maslov paid tax only under the general system, which allowed him to avoid significant payments to the budget.

In turn, "KEnK" received a profit of 4.9 million hryvnias (131,000 dollars) in 2023, but paid Maslov dividends of 6.08 million hryvnias (161,917 dollars), which is 1.5 times its net profit. These manipulations with dividends allowed Maslov to significantly reduce his tax obligations and, probably, became one of the factors that allowed him to acquire such expensive cars.