The Donetsk District Administrative Court has satisfied the claim of the State Tax Service regarding the collection of tax debt from blogger and activist Vitaliy Shabunin in the amount of UAH 126.4 thousand. This is stated in the court decision published on the website of the Unified State Register of Court Decisions.
As noted by journalist and military Volodymyr Boyko, Vitaliy Shabunin announced the collection of money for the reconstruction of his own house after a fire that occurred back in 2020.
Whether people actually transferred money, or whether Shabunin only legalized his funds in this way is not known for sure. But it is known for sure that Shabunin had to pay 227 thousand 438 UAH 92 kopecks of income tax from the received monetary gifts, but he paid only 101 thousand UAH
In this regard, the Main Department of the State Tax Service in Kyiv accrued Shabunin a tax liability in the amount of UAH 126,438.92.
According to Boyko, the activist refused to pay the rest of the taxes. With the beginning of the full-scale invasion, there was also an additional reason for this: Shabunin stated that he had mobilized into the ranks of the Armed Forces. However, as stated in the decision, the court did not find evidence that the activist "was involved in direct participation in hostilities that prevented him from fulfilling tax obligations that he independently declared back in 2020.".
"Shabunin, who actually did not take part in the hostilities for a single day, is now in command of the department of the field mechanized bakery of the food warehouse of the 218th Joint Logistics Support Center of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Kharkiv. He received UAH 345,070 of monetary support as a serviceman and UAH 2,334,119 of income from entrepreneurial activity. What kind of military service is this, where a mobilized person during the war is engaged in entrepreneurial activity?", – Boyko notes.
It is reminded that the SBI is also investigating a number of criminal cases against Shabunin: in particular, on evasion of mobilization, forgery of NACP documents, illegal use of humanitarian aid and appropriation of a Nissan Pathfinder jeep.