New audits to zoom in on tax evaders
The General Secretariat of Public Revenue has drafted a plan that will involve targeted checks, beginning in the fall, of sectors designated as “dangerous” when it comes to paying taxes.
More specifically, the audits will reportedly focus on doctors, engineers, plumbers, accountants, electricians, lawyers and others that are considered especially prone to tax evasion, as the government pursues its stated objective of combating and reducing tax evasion.
The audits will employ different criteria for each occupation category.
Auditors will look into the income declared in previous years, the operating costs per activity, and will factor in the loans an individual or company has taken out and their assets.
Tax return data have shown that about one in two freelancers declares an annual income of up to 5,000 euros, which financial authorities claim are a far cry from reality.
According to reports, the expertise of technocrats from the UK and France was employed to draft the government’s plan.
Indeed, nine members of the General Secretariat of Public Revenue attended a series of seminars over three weeks at the end of May and beginning of June in Paris, France.
