European officials promise to closely monitor financial fraudsters
A common operational structure will allow the authorities of EU member states to take quick and coordinated measures against dishonest taxpayers. According to European officials, the creation of 'Eurofisc' is especially important in times of crisis. According to some data, the annual damage to the EU economy from VAT evasion amounts to almost €250 billion.
"In the current economic situation, it is more important than ever to fight tax crimes, and the main element of this fight should be fully cooperating tax authorities of the countries," explained Laszlo Kovacs the need for the rapid creation of both a single tax authority and additional measures to counter tax crimes. "Our goal is to ensure that tax authorities have all the technical and legal powers to fight VAT fraud within the European Union," he added.
According to the commissioner, the tax authorities of each EU country should protect the tax interests of other member states as they do their own. The following protective measures are proposed: creation of a common database containing the necessary set of basic information on individuals, as well as development of a common strategy to combat crimes.
The main goal of the innovations is to combat so-called carousel fraud with value added tax (VAT). Such frauds are most often committed with small-sized technical items (mobile phones, computers, etc.) that are purchased in one country without paying VAT and sold in another including tax. The tax is paid by the buyer, but the amount of VAT is not returned to the treasury but remains with dishonest sellers. Most often, transactions are virtual, and sellers manage to disappear before the goods are shipped to the buyer.
The new initiatives of the European Commission, if adopted by all EU members, will allow national governments to access the databases of other countries to obtain information about the non-payer. The databases will also be reorganized and unified.
Polina Khimshiashvili,
Gazeta Gzt.ru