More and more suspects
Tax authorities crack down: slush funds in 130 restaurants
The tax investigators are hot on their heels! The alleged massive fraud in the restaurant scene is spreading dramatically. Up to 130 restaurants are now believed to have evaded taxes through slush funds. This means that the damage is likely to exceed the ten million mark.
As reported, dozens of large-scale raids were carried out in the five federal states of Vienna, Lower Austria, Burgenland, Styria, and Carinthia. The approximately 200 tax investigators targeted business premises, company headquarters, and private residences. Countless computers, cell phones, USB sticks, and other electronic devices were seized.
Revenge by former employee set the ball rolling
The explosive information about the mega fraud suspicion involving cash registers in the domestic restaurant scene was provided by an ex-employee, of all people, who revealed the machinations to the authorities out of revenge.
The investigation by tax investigators and the Public Prosecutor's Office for Economic Affairs and Corruption (WKStA) is focusing on a 56-year-old programmer and head of a one-man IT company. The computer specialist from Lower Austria wrote the illegal software that is said to have been used to trick the tax authorities for years.
Fraud only possible if customers did not request the invoice
If customers did not ask for "the bill, please" or the receipt with the QR code, the program could either delete the flat-rate percentage or individual invoice items retrospectively.
After being threatened with pre-trial detention due to the risk of collusion, the businessman confessed everything and revealed his customer list. And the number of suspects is steadily rising, as Christian Ackerler, head of the financial fraud investigation unit, confirmed in an interview with "Krone." Currently, there are around 50 managers from 130 establishments, including celebrity restaurateurs.
Tax advisors inquire about voluntary disclosures for clients
A class action lawsuit threatens not only prison sentences of up to ten years, but also hefty fines. In a similar series of fraud cases involving slush funds in Chinese restaurants in Vienna, the damage exceeded ten million euros.
In addition, behind the scenes, dozens of tax advisors are already inquiring with the tax authorities about where their respective clients can file voluntary disclosures. Even without lengthy court proceedings, the authorities appear to be in for a windfall...
This article has been automatically translated,
read the original article here.
Willkommen in unserer Community! Eingehende Beiträge werden geprüft und anschließend veröffentlicht. Bitte achten Sie auf Einhaltung unserer Netiquette und AGB. Für ausführliche Diskussionen steht Ihnen ebenso das krone.at-Forum zur Verfügung. Hier können Sie das Community-Team via unserer Melde- und Abhilfestelle kontaktieren.
User-Beiträge geben nicht notwendigerweise die Meinung des Betreibers/der Redaktion bzw. von Krone Multimedia (KMM) wieder. In diesem Sinne distanziert sich die Redaktion/der Betreiber von den Inhalten in diesem Diskussionsforum. KMM behält sich insbesondere vor, gegen geltendes Recht verstoßende, den guten Sitten oder der Netiquette widersprechende bzw. dem Ansehen von KMM zuwiderlaufende Beiträge zu löschen, diesbezüglichen Schadenersatz gegenüber dem betreffenden User geltend zu machen, die Nutzer-Daten zu Zwecken der Rechtsverfolgung zu verwenden und strafrechtlich relevante Beiträge zur Anzeige zu bringen (siehe auch AGB). Hier können Sie das Community-Team via unserer Melde- und Abhilfestelle kontaktieren.