Tobacco market’s audits: State Tax Service detected violations worth hundreds of millions of UAH

Press service of the State Tax Service of Ukraine, published 19 January 2026 at 12:10 Chapter: News

Specialists of the State Tax Service conducted almost 13.9 thousand audits of business entities operating in the retail sale of tobacco products during 2025. This was announced by Deputy Head of the State Tax Service Andrii Trotsko during a roundtable meeting organized by the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine.

According to him, as a result of the identified violations, 220.5 million UAH of fines were applied to business entities in the tobacco retail sector.

“State Tax Service’s increased attention is aimed not only at compliance with the retail sales standards, but also at the correctness of licensing. Due to violations of legislative requirements, more than 1.6 thousand licenses for the retail sale of tobacco products were terminated last year” – Andrii Trotsko noted.

Also, as a result of cooperation between the State Tax Service and National Police, more than 1.1 million reports of illegal sale were sent to the law enforcement agencies during the year. 24 million UAH worth of products were seized.

In addition, tax officials initiated dismantling of 90 illegally established retail outlets.

“Economic effect of measures taken by the State Tax Service to un-shadow this market has become tangible. According to the RRO/PRRO, revenues from the sale of tobacco products in 2025 increased by 25.6% or 30.4 billion UAH, compared to the last year” – said Deputy Head of the State Tax Service.

He noted that the state budget also received more funds: excise tax on produced and imported tobacco products amounted to 122.5 billion UAH, which is 26.9% (26 billion UAH) more than in 2024.

According to Andrii Trotsko, separate area of ​​work is combating illegal production of excisable products. Tax Service has intensified audits of farms that grow tobacco without a license or sales of products and liquids for electronic cigarettes with violations. In cooperation with customs officers, 6 cases of using unregistered equipment for production of tobacco products were identified. Financial sanctions were applied to the violators, and information was passed on to the law enforcement officers.