2024-08-11 14:17:12
The economic staff of the government is intensifying its actions to limit it tax evasionwherever it comes from, so as to put a stop to the astute ones who damage the State as well as the consistent ones taxpayers. After all, the shadow economy is an open wound for the revenues of the state budget and, by extension, for the public interest, which is why its controls are being intensified Independent Public Revenue Authority (AADE) in order to limit the cases of “black” money laundering, but at the same time, large tax evasion. In fact, the results of said controls are already visible and in fact several cases of tax evaders and big debtors have been referred for control to the Anti-Money Laundering Authority, with indictments against those allegedly involved in said cases raining down.
In particular, according to the data of the AADE, between January and May 2024, the tax control mechanism sent the above Authority 375 cases, of which 164 concern confirmed tax evasion, which will also be checked for “black” money laundering, while the remaining 211 they concern debts to the State which need thorough control. It should be noted that of the above total of 164 cases in which taxpayers and businesses are accused of proven tax evasion, exceeding 50,000 euros, 44 resulted from audits carried out in January, 43 in February, 29 in March, 19 in April and the 29th in May.
The total amount
It is even noteworthy that the total amount of tax evasion attributed to the specific cases identified by the tax authorities amounted to 540.40 million euros. At the same time, in the same period, January – May, 211 cases of taxpayers with confirmed debts to the State of more than 50,000 euros were sent to the Anti-Money Laundering Authority, whose total debt amounts to 220.29 million euros.
Also, between January and May, in the context of the exchange of suspicious cases, the Anti-Money Laundering Authority sent the audit services of AADE suspicious cases to check on specific persons, since in any case the persons accused of money laundering of money are also checked for tax evasion or debts to the State. Thus, the Anti-Money Laundering Authority sends all cases investigated for “black” money to the tax office. In particular, in the first four months the Authority sent 73 “heavy” cases of “black” money to AADE to be investigated for tax evasion and the tax authorities issued the relevant control orders to persons, with the confirmed amounts approaching 7.24 million euros.
Legislative changes
It is pointed out that, in the context of combating the trafficking of “black” money, significant changes were made by Law 4816/2021, which amended provisions of the basic law on money laundering (4557/2018) and changed, among other things, the list of offenses that are included in the “basic offences”. Thus, the basic offenses that now trigger the prosecution for money laundering include the evasion of payment of income taxes, VAT, VAT of ships, while those involved in fake and fictitious invoices, as well as cross-border VAT fraud, are excluded.
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At the same time, the procedure for seizing and prohibiting the sale of assets was also changed, while the provisions on banking, tax, telecommunications, stock exchange and any other confidentiality do not apply to the defendants. In any case, for house auctions, but also for the adjudication of tax disputes, the courts that are close to the debtor’s or the taxpayer’s headquarters are competent.
More specifically, based on the current legislation, the crime of tax evasion is committed by anyone who intentionally: a) in order to avoid the payment of income tax, uniform real estate property tax (ENFIA) or special real estate tax (EFA), conceals from the bodies of the Tax Administration taxable income from any source or assets, in particular by omitting to submit a declaration or by submitting an inaccurate declaration or by entering fictitious (total or partial) expenses in the accounting records or citing such expenses in the tax return, so that no taxable material is shown or it is shown reduced, b) in order to avoid the payment of value added tax, turnover tax, insurance premium tax and withholding and imputed taxes, fees or contributions, does not return or incorrectly returns or offsets or deducts them incorrectly, as well as anyone who misleads the Tax Administration by representing false facts as true or by wrongfully suppressing or concealing true facts and fails to pay or mispays or sets off or deducts them or receives a refund, and whoever withholds such taxes, fees or contributions, c) in order to avoid the payment of ship tax does not remits or incorrectly remits this tax to the State.
The role of the Authority
With regard to the role of the Anti-Money Laundering Authority, based on article 34 par.1 of Law 4557/2018, it may transmit and exchange information of a confidential nature with the competent prosecutorial or other authorities with investigative or audit responsibilities , as well as with the supervisory authorities of article 6 of Law 4557/2018, as long as this information is deemed necessary for their work and for the fulfillment of their legal duties.