Polish fiscal authorities exposed to white collar crime
A recent report by the Polish Supreme Audit Office (NIK) revealed inefficient economic crime prevention mechanisms among the fiscal authorities, with statistics showing that 228,000 fake invoices were used in 2012 and H1 2013 to claim undue VAT tax, the Polish media reported May 14, 2014.
“In order to come in possession of PLN 1 mln, a fraudster would have to counterfeit a countless amount of banknotes,” Pawel Kolodziejski from the District Prosecutor’s Office in Bydgoszcz told Rzeczpospolita. “The fraudster will gain that sum of money much easier if they issue a series of fake invoices into the system.”
Statistics show that the tendency progresses in a worryingly fashion: the value of the VAT-related fraud detected by the Polish fiscal authorities went from a little over PLN 2.5 bln in 2011 to more than PLN 4 bln in 2012. The value amounted to PLN 3.2 bln during only the first half of 2013.
Most of the defrauded money was never reclaimed by the authorities. The Polish tax office recuperated 22.7 percent of the total loss in 2011, 8.8 percent in 2012 and only 4.8 percent in the first half of 2013. Audits showed that in most of the cases the foreclosure clauses were issued by the fiscal offices too late – after the fraudster companies were already in liquidation proceedings or when they no longer were in possession of the defrauded funds.
The goods, which were most frequently used by the fraudsters in the fictitious trade included automotive oil, electronics, construction materials, color metals, and – until recently steel – scrap metal.
Although the carousel VAT scam remains by far the most popular type of tax fraud applied by fraudsters to trick the authorities, investigators admit that the ingenuity of the scammers knows no limits and prosecution is extremely difficult.
“The most difficult part of the investigation is to figure out the names of all those engaged in the scam and to separate them from the honest businessmen who were used by them,” Kolodziejski said.
