Support with closing sole proprietors and LLCs in Kyiv

Closing a business is rarely a “beautiful story”. More often it is a mix of exhaustion, financial pressure, market changes or relocation abroad. Against this background, you naturally want to do everything “quickly and without unnecessary bureaucracy”. However, it is precisely at the stage of terminating an SP (sole proprietor) or liquidating an LLC that many people make mistakes which later haunt them for years in the form of fines, additional tax assessments and frozen bank accounts. That is why legal support for closing a business is not about formality – it is about your safety after you leave the game.

Why closing a sole proprietor is not just a button in Diia

In recent years an illusion has emerged: you can open and close a sole proprietorship in just a few clicks. This is partly true – if we talk only about registration actions. But the tax, financial and legal consequences do not disappear anywhere. Moreover, models are now being discussed and implemented under which, before closing an SP, automatic checks will be carried out for debts, taxes, social contributions and financial monitoring flags.

Typical risks when “self‑closing” a sole proprietor:

• the entrepreneur believes that after filing the application and being removed from the register all tax obligations vanish, while in fact debts, fines and penalty interest can be assessed even after that;
• liquidation tax returns are not filed at all or are filed with errors – as a result, a “sudden” tax debt and account blocks appear one or two years later;
• unsettled settlements with counterparties: unsigned closing acts, undocumented returns, contradictory payment descriptions that create dispute risks.

To avoid this, it is essential before pressing “close” to understand what your accounting shows, which contracts are still “hanging in the air”, and how your history looks from the tax authority’s perspective. This is exactly the lawyer’s task during the closure support.

LLC liquidation: more formalities – more traps

With an LLC things are more complex: there are shareholders, charter capital, creditors, employees, lease agreements, licences, assets. On paper the procedure looks like a clear sequence – shareholders’ resolution, appointment of a liquidator, notifying creditors, interim and final balance sheets, deregistration with the tax office. In practice, however, you can create future problems at almost every step.

Some of the most sensitive points:

• incorrectly drafted shareholders’ resolutions, “on‑the‑fly” changes of director and liquidator;
• ignoring creditors or trying to “shut down quietly” when debts still exist;
• employee issues: dismissals, compensation, salary arrears, labour disputes;
• distribution of LLC assets between shareholders – if done incorrectly, a dispute may escalate into civil or even criminal proceedings.

A lawyer here is needed not to “carry folders”, but to ensure that the liquidation procedure does not turn into a new round of court cases after the company is formally closed.

What pains we address when supporting SP and LLC closure

When clients come to a law firm with the request “help us close the business”, there are always very specific fears and risks behind it. At WINNER we work with these pains every day:

• Fear of tax audits and additional assessments after closure: clients are afraid to “wake up the tax office” but also do not want to leave loose ends.
• Uncertainty whether “everything is documented correctly”: resolutions, minutes, balance sheets, creditor notifications, employee terminations.
• Concerns that debts or fines may surface years later, when the person is already in another country or another business field.
• Risk of disputes with partners and co‑founders when closing an LLC: who gets what, who is liable for old obligations, how not to turn liquidation into a war.
• Chaos in documentation: part of it lost due to the war, relocation, office moves, changes of accountants – and it is unclear what to show the tax office and how to restore primary documents.

Our task is to guide the procedure so that, as far as possible, the client exits it without legal “land mines” that may explode later.

Why you should turn to WINNER for closure support

When choosing whom to entrust with closing an SP or liquidating an LLC, it is important to look not only at “how much the service costs”, but also at experience in related areas: tax, disputes with regulators, labour, contract and corporate conflicts. WINNER is a law firm that provides comprehensive support to businesses: from incorporation and changes in corporate structure to defence in tax, commercial, family and criminal disputes.

We do more than just file closure documents – we look at your situation more broadly: where audit risks lie, which contracts must be closed or restructured, how to communicate properly with creditors and the tax office, what to do with assets and employees. If you are planning to close an SP or LLC, or have already started the process and are unsure whether everything has been done correctly, contact the WINNER law firm – we will discuss your situation and propose an action plan that will allow you to end your business story as safely as possible.

Author: Ihor Yasko, Managing Partner of the Law Firm “WINNER”, PhD in Law.