In the check lottery organized by the State Revenue Service (SRS), residents have registered 16.6 million payment documents during the year and information from checks submitted in the lottery has allowed the SRS to detect and prevent business violations, thus increasing budget revenues by 1.2 million euros.
During the preventive measures and thematic inspections performed as a result of the check lottery, 932 entrepreneurs have submitted updated declarations and additionally declared taxes in the amount of 1,195,731 million euros at the request of the SRS. As a result of 43 thematic inspections performed by the SRS, a fine in the amount of 21,540 euros has been imposed. Thus, during the check lottery in Latvia for exactly one year, the state budget revenues have been increased by 1,217,271 million euros.
The information received by the SRS on a monthly basis from checks and receipts submitted in the lottery helps to reveal significant violations in the field of tax revenue, such as use of unregistered or unregistered cash registers, non-declaration of income in declarations or non-registration in the value added tax register.
The lottery also allows us to see the risks of “envelope” wages – not declaring all employees and not counting the time actually worked by all employees. The check lottery has also proven to be an effective control tool in the Covid-19 crisis, as the checks submitted have shed light on cases where checks continue to be issued by companies that are supposed to be completely down, have applied and most likely received unjustified downtime benefits, the SRS explained. .
The purpose of the check lottery is to promote fair competition and voluntary tax compliance by encouraging shoppers to request checks and receipts for goods purchased and services received, thus promoting cultural change in society.
The check lottery is taking place in Latvia for the first time, but elsewhere in the world there is a widespread practice that has yielded positive results both in terms of changing public behavior and revenue to the state budget. The check lottery is organized by the SRS, but is informatively supported by SJSC “Latvijas Loto”. Anyone can participate in the check lottery by registering a check, receipt or ticket worth at least five euros on the website “www.cekuloterija.lv”. The document certifying the transaction must be issued for a good or service received from a taxpayer registered in Latvia.
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