The thorn in the side of the winner of the last parliamentary elections was the “cashew period”. Cash payments make it possible to rob the state of millions of euros in VAT refunds. The police can only check the arrival of money in the bank account. He cannot verify cash payments. Thanks to this, fraudsters can declare a fictitious transfer of money through the contracts concluded between them. Based on them, they subsequently ask the state to pay out hundreds of thousands to millions of euros through VAT refunds. In reality, however, they did not transfer a single euro between them, and the state has nothing to repay them.
Ladislav Bašternák became a symbol of such speculative “business”. The winner of the last election, Igor Matovič, regularly criticized Smer for its good relations with this “our” person. Paradoxically, the cashew period returned after the Common People’s leader came to power. In the past, common frauds in 2013 were significantly complicated by the adoption of the Law on Limiting Cash Payments. It prohibits entrepreneurs from making cash payments for more than 5,000 euros. In the case of ordinary people, the limit has been moved to 15,000 euros.
The return of the cashew period
The mentioned sanctions are canceled after the declaration of a state of emergency and emergency. In times of extreme natural disaster and network outages, only physical money may be available for a period of time. Likewise, knocking out the online banking system will be one of the enemy’s goals in the event of war. In such difficult times, lifting the restriction on the use of cash will prevent a complete collapse of the economy.
In reality, the sanctions were turned off for the first time after the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic. A state of emergency was declared. In times of overcrowded hospitals, the unlimited use of cash had no economic benefit. Only tax cheats could enjoy it. They most likely took advantage of the relaxation of the ban. In 2020, the police detected 4,130 tax crimes. In 2021 there was an increase to 4,275 and in 2022 to 5,176.
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