Tax administration unveils fraud schemes

TIRANA, Nov. 6 – Albania’s tax administration says it unveiled tax fraud schemes, worth 810 million lek, (Euro 5.6) in October 2013 mainly in VAT fraud.
“Apart from the disclosure of the VAT refund fraud scheme worth 515 million lek, we have also managed to uncover evasion worth 295 million lek, mainly in tax evasion or carousel fraud,” said Brisida Shehaj, the new director of the tax administration since last October.
The new tax director said tax authorities collected an extra USD 12 million compared to last September soon after the Socialists took over.
The tax administration says it has launched an awareness campaign targeting both households and businesses on the importance of withdrawing tax receipts, denouncing corruption and tax evasion.
Through carousel fraud, also called missing trader intra-community value-added tax (VAT) fraud, fraudsters import goods VAT-free from other countries, then sell the goods to domestic buyers, charging them VAT. The sellers then disappear without paying the tax to the government.