SDOE notes decline in tax evasion

Over 16,000 checks were carried out by the government’s Financial and Economic Crime Unit (SDOE) on businesses between July 27 and August 16.

The controls revealed that around two out of 10, or just over 20 percent of enterprises checked, were found to be in violation of the country’s tax laws. The figures point to a major reduction in cases of tax evasion, which had been identified at more than 40 percent of the businesses checked in the preceding period of July.

Infringements were observed at 3,310 of the 16,394 businesses checked. A total of 13,562 infringements were noted, which came to an average of four per offending business. The checks were carried out by 4,938 auditors.

The checks largely centered on businesses in the fields of catering, tourism and entertainment. Transgressions were found to be more common at popular tourist destinations than elsewhere, noted at around 45 percent of businesses checked in such areas.

Of the 430 infringements recorded last week, 96 percent concerned the nonexistent or inaccurate provision of details, while a greater number of infringements were noted during nighttime visits.

Ten cash registers were seized from nine businesses in order to check the validity of the software.