Over 52 thousand companies in Ukraine have not declared income for years: where are the most such enterprises?

In Ukraine, more than 52 thousand operating companies have been submitting financial statements with zero or incomplete income figures for at least two consecutive years. Almost 4600 enterprises have been in this state for five years. The largest number of such legal entities is registered in Kyiv.

How many companies do not declare income for years

According to analysts, there are 52,202 operating commercial companies in Ukraine that have not reflected income in their financial statements for at least two years or have left the relevant indicator blank.

Approximately a quarter of such enterprises report without income for three consecutive years. At the same time, about 4600 legal entities have demonstrated similar figures for five years.

At the same time, the absence of declared income does not necessarily indicate the cessation of the enterprise’s activities. The company may temporarily not make sales, be in the process of reorganization, or retain legal status to resume work.

In which regions are there the most companies without income

The largest number of companies that do not declare income for a long time is registered in the capital.

According to the results of the study:

Kyiv – 15,078 companies, or almost 29%;
Dnipropetrovsk region – 3,998 companies, about 8%;
Kharkiv region – 3,663 companies, about 7%;
Odesa region – 3,471 companies, about 7%.

Thus, Kyiv and the three mentioned regions account for more than half of the companies included in the study.

At the same time, analysts emphasize that this is precisely the place of state registration of legal entities, which does not always coincide with the actual place of business.

Which business areas most often remain without declared income

The largest number of companies with zero or unspecified income are registered in the wholesale trade sector.

In particular:

Wholesale trade – 9,894 companies;

Real estate operations – 5523 enterprises;
Construction – 4279 companies;
Agriculture – 3426 enterprises.

Thus, the largest concentration of such legal entities is observed in the areas of trade, real estate, construction and agricultural production.

Over 80% of enterprises are limited liability companies

By legal form, the vast majority of companies included in the study are limited liability companies.

There are 42,383 of them, which corresponds to approximately 81% of the total number.

Another 7673 legal entities are registered as private enterprises, and 1691 – as farms.

The rest belong to joint-stock companies and other legal forms.

Why enterprises do not close, even if they have no income

One of the reasons for the long-term existence of companies without declared income is the complexity of the procedure for liquidating a legal entity.

As explained by Denys Popov, head of the legal department at Opendatabot, the official termination of a company’s activities involves the implementation of a number of legal and financial procedures.

In particular, the owners need to settle their obligations to creditors and the state, which requires additional time and resources.

That is why some entrepreneurs decide to keep a registered company, even if it is temporarily not engaged in active economic activity.

A separate factor remains the full-scale war. Some businesses could have suspended operations due to the loss of production capacity, staff reductions, destruction of property, or loss of sales markets.

Does zero income mean that the company has actually ceased operations?

Experts warn against equating the absence of income in the reporting with the actual closure of the business.

The study included active commercial legal entities that have submitted annual financial statements with a zero or blank income indicator for at least the last two consecutive years.

Non-profit organizations were not included in the sample.

Thus, statistics indicate a significant number of legally active companies without reflected income, but do not allow us to conclude that all of them have actually ceased economic activity.