Net closing in on VAT dodgers
Tax authorities will refuse to accept corporate transactions if one of the two parties has not submitted its value-added tax statement, according to new regulations from the General Secretariat of Public Revenues.
That way, the Finance Ministry aims to contain the number of businesses that fail to comply with tax legislation and in some cases ignore telephone reminders by tax officers.
Some 580,000 companies and self-employed individuals do not submit VAT statements and therefore do not pay the tax due.
The ministry will also publish the tax registration numbers of those who fail to submit VAT statements on the website of the General Secretariat for Information Systems, with a daily update based on data submitted by tax offices around the country. That process will not concern transactions between corporations (or self-employed) and consumers, as the receipts the latter will receive will still be recognized by the tax authorities.
