Faro restaurants busted in VAT fraud raid

Paul 22 January 2016

Officers of the Judicial Police have raided restaurants in Faro, Lisbon and Oporto whose owners were suspected of using computer software that allows them to fiddle the VAT.

Some 18 restaurants were targeted for their involvement in the fraud after an investigation by the Central Department of Investigation and Penal Action (DCIAP) raised suspicion that computers had been fitted with a programme that allows owners to enter amounts and print receipts which were not automatically transmitted to the tax authority via the offical terminals linked to the tills.

VAT was charged to customers and then pocketed by the traders, according to a statement from the Attorney General's Office.

The restaurateurs are accused of tax fraud, and falsifying information in an operation involving 50 Judicial Police officers.

Comments

-3 #4 dw 2016-01-24 23:57

I suppose all those criminal international bankers have the "rogue Portuguese gene" too?

When the game is obviously fixed and unfair people refuse to play by the rules.

0 #3 Chip 2016-01-23 10:20

If taxes are too high people will try not to pay them.

23% on food paid from income that has already been taxed at source is a disgrace. And I wonder how restaurants charging €8 for a full meal with wine can survive if they have to hand over €2.

+2 #2 Ana M 2016-01-23 08:14

Not denying that it is wrong, BUT ... they are not the root of the problem. The day that the Portuguese government stops the legal tax loopholes, benefits, etc for big business (who pay negligible amounts of tax), followed by a reduction of such things as after a few years politicians have pensions for life not to mention the absurd amounts they get paid in salary and subsidies, and they stop the theft of our nacional resources via sales to their pals or brown envelopes under thetable ... then maybe ... the rest of the population that is bucking the system will then have no problem in paying their due. As it is currently the bulk of the income comes from the little guy ...

-3 #1 Millicent 2016-01-22 21:07

Coming just a year or so after we heard of over 150,000 Portuguese businesses discovered to be falsifying till returns is this not yet more proof of the 'Portuguese rogue gene?'

These endless investigations by the PJ, ASAE etc etc cost dozens of millions of euros. Wasted. When will enough people in Portugal wake up and see it as wrong? This would not have been a whistle blower - they don't exist in Portugal. So people were claiming for business meals that were not then being registered with the taxman.

All staff using the till will have known of the scam - so why then will no restaurants be shut down ?

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