Red Tape Hot Box on tax evasion
It's nice to hear that we aren't the only country with a reputation for having tax evasion and bribery among our national pastimes. Apparently in western European countries, such as Italy, people like to play these games as well. But unfortunately for us, we seem to be the leading player on the field.
Our Italian businessman whose difficulties with renewing his visa were described in last week's column has another story to share with us. He has been working here for a joint venture company for several years now, and in the course of his activities he became aware that one of the owners, who would work only at nights, was manipulating the accounting ledgers in order to avoid paying taxes. In due course, the owner would be called before the local tax office. But he always managed to get them off his back, according to the Italian, by sending them a fat envelope full of bills with the image of King Władysław II Jagiełło. It seemed that everyone in the firm knew what was going on and simply accepted it.
The owner also used the same procedure whenever some kind of certificate was needed, our reader says. He seemed to know all the "right people" to falsify his documents. Workers at the company would approach the owner and quite openly ask him if he could get this or that for them, so our reader tells us. Of course, such "favours" were also tax-free.
Another tax evasion situation that our reader came across was actually proposed by one of his firm's clients, who suggested that perhaps the company would like to sell to him on a monthly basis without documentation, just like the firm's competitors did, and on the last day of the month issue an invoice for the total sales amount. While the firm's competitor received 3% cash for this service, its clients did not have to pay taxes. Our reader informed the local tax office, but everyone, including his wife and attorney, said that it was better to keep quiet about it to avoid trouble later.
Red tape bugging you? Tell Mateusz about it at matdem@poczta.onet.pl.
