Tax Office: The system that fights tax evaders – What “fished” – 2024-07-31 09:31:47

AADE has been using a new digital system for automated control and detection of unjustified increases in taxpayer property since the beginning of the year and has brought significant results so far.

A bell has rung for 1,100 natural persons as the incomes they declare to the Tax Office do not justify the amount of deposits or investment accounts they have in banks. The next step for the auditing authorities is to call on these taxpayers to justify the large difference between their declared incomes and their deposits and if they can’t, impose taxes, penalties and surcharges on them.

This is the mechanism of the Automated Control of Asset Addition that enables the control authorities to receive data and information from credit institutions on the amount of deposits, investment accounts, credit and prepaid cards, bank safes and electronic wallets very quickly. for controlled natural persons. This information is then compared with the tax returns in order to establish whether the amount of their wealth and living expenses are justified by the income they declare to the tax office.

If they are not justified then a 33% tax is imposed on the difference and additional penalties, surcharges and a special solidarity levy resulting in the final burden exceeding 50%.

Digital wallets are also in the spotlight

The aim of the auditing authorities is to intensify the controls in the next period through the new mechanism which proves to be particularly effective in the fight against tax evasion.

In addition to the development of deposits of natural persons, the focus of the audits will be electronic wallets and Paypal-type services that register a strong growth trend in digital payment methods

The data sent to the new system by banking and financial institutions are:

• Deposits
• Grants of loans
• Investment accounts from all kinds of portfolios of investment products and securities (mutual funds, bonds, shares, derivatives, Repos).
• Credit cards
• ATMs
• Payment Accounts
• Prepaid Cards
• Electronic wallets

It is noted that, based on the law, if the Tax Office detects an amount in a bank account with an unknown source of origin, as it is not justified by any source of the taxpayer’s income, then it automatically qualifies it as an “increase in property”.

The taxpayer, if summoned by the Tax Office, bears the burden of proof of the source or cause of origin. In the event that the evidence is not satisfactory, any increase in the property is characterized and taxed as income from liberal professions, at a rate of 33% plus fines and surcharges and the imposition of a special solidarity levy.

In any case, it is pointed out that an increase in assets resulting from the control of bank accounts must be sufficiently documented, since withdrawals or deposits may concern transactions and movements that do not necessarily constitute taxable income.

Source: RES-MPE