{"id":38251,"date":"2023-12-07T16:16:42","date_gmt":"2023-12-07T15:16:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bird.bg\/?p=38251"},"modified":"2024-12-28T23:21:12","modified_gmt":"2024-12-28T22:21:12","slug":"bulgarian-consultants-romanian-vta-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bird.bg\/en\/bulgarian-consultants-romanian-vta-fraud\/","title":{"rendered":"Bulgarian consultants facilitate Romanian tax fraud on an industrial scale"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several financial advisors in the Bulgarian city of Ruse, on the border with Romania, help Romanian businessmen commit VAT fraud and, in some cases, siphon off funds from the European Union, of which both countries are members.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>OCCRP’s partner, <\/span>Context<\/a><\/span>, revealed the fraud after an investigation conducted in partnership with journalists from the Bulgarian platform BIRD.
\nReporters found that contractors used the so-called “missing community trader” (MTIC) method, which uses zero-tax rules for trade between EU members by creating fictitious exports. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Typically, a chain of one or more shell companies is created and they start trading goods between EU countries, which is exempt from VAT because VAT in the EU only applies to local transactions in the country.
\nIn simple cases, fraudsters import goods without VAT, sell the goods on the domestic market, charging the local buyer VAT, but without returning it to the tax authorities.
\nThe local buyer deducts the VAT paid by his tax office and continues to sell the goods, charging VAT. <\/span><\/p>\n

The company that imports goods and resells them on the domestic market without returning VAT to the treasury commits fraud.
\nBut it disappears before legal action can be taken by national law enforcement authorities responsible for detecting potential crimes. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>MTIC is one of the most common types of tax evasion in the bloc of 27 nations and costs the union almost 50 billion euros a year, according to Europol.
\nThe scheme has also hit Romania’s budget painfully and is likely delaying badly needed development projects. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Laura Codruta Kovesi, a Romanian prosecutor appointed chief European prosecutor in 2019, told Context that tax evasion in cross-border fraud “has been very tolerated” and “ignored for years” by many EU countries.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>“When a company evades taxes and pays no taxes to the state, you personally don’t feel anything,” she said.
\nBut without these funds in Romania, “we can’t raise wages, we can’t have better hospitals, we can’t have schools, we can’t have roads… There is no money in the budget.” <\/span><\/p>\n

A 2023 report by the European Commission to collect VAT in the bloc showed that Romania has the largest VAT gap among member states and fails to collect 36.7% of expected revenue.
\nIn 2021, Romania failed to collect almost 9 billion euros of VAT, while Germany, a country with an economy that is 15 times larger, left uncollected only 7.5 billion euros. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>“If I wanted to commit VAT fraud, where would I go? Would I go to a country like Italy or Germany, where I know the tax administration comes and checks me regularly?”
\n“No, I would move to Romania, I would move to Bulgaria … where the detection level is very low [and] I can live peacefully because no one disturbs me.” <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>The MTIC fraud scheme is a simple but effective method. <\/span><\/p>\n

Reporters found that consultants from Ruse helped Romanian businessmen set up companies in Bulgaria and offered office space there.
\nThey also identified socially vulnerable people who, for a modest amount of 50 euros, legally sign the documents and on paper represent the companies. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span>The most productive three consultants revealed in the investigation helped create hundreds of shell companies.
\nOne of them, whose website boasts of being a “Tax Haven in the EU”, has created a total of 230. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>At least eight companies he set up in Bulgaria that are controlled by entrepreneurs in Romania were involved in large tax frauds that Context.ro detected.
\nMany of the persons employed to represent the firms have financial difficulties and appear to have been exploited. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>The companies acted as facades for fictitious exports between Romania and Bulgaria, but the goods never left Romanian territory and then sold locally below market prices because VAT was “saved”.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Some of the companies are involved in fraud with the European Structural and Investment Funds.
\nThey have been used to artificially inflate the value of imported goods in order to fraudulently gain access to more substantial EU funds. <\/span><\/p>\n

In one such scheme, a network of Bulgarian companies positioned between a Chinese exporter of a production machine and a Romanian manufacturer of plastic containers inflated the price of the machines more than three times the original price, resulting in a fraud of almost 1 million euros.
\nNo one was charged. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>According to the Romanian National Tax Administration, ANAF, over the past 10 years, 140 cases of fraud involving Bulgarian companies have been identified, causing more than 250 million euros in damage.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>The Romanian government this year is struggling to draw up a fiscal plan that could fill the deficit in its finances, and is looking at measures such as tax increases and spending freezes.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>“Romania is the external border of the European Union… VAT fraud and, in general, the fight against organised crime, must be a priority,” Kovesi said.
\n“You can’t eliminate drug trafficking and other crimes… without interrupting their funding.” <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Several financial advisors in the Bulgarian city of Ruse, on the border with Romania, help Romanian businessmen commit VAT fraud and, in some cases, siphon off funds from the European Union, of which both countries are members. OCCRP’s partner, Context, revealed the fraud after an investigation conducted in partnership with journalists from the Bulgarian platform […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":38255,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[10972,67],"tags":[9343,6505,7350,9341,7151,9342,6420],"coauthors":[204],"class_list":["post-38251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2023-with-bird","category-investigations-en","tag-context-ro-en","tag-hollow-companies","tag-kovesi","tag-mtic-en","tag-romania","tag-ruse","tag-vat-fraud"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBulgarian consultants facilitate Romanian tax fraud on an industrial scale | BIRD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bird.bg\/en\/bulgarian-consultants-romanian-vta-fraud\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bulgarian consultants facilitate Romanian tax fraud on an industrial scale\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Several financial advisors in the Bulgarian city of Ruse, on the border with Romania, help Romanian businessmen commit VAT fraud and, in some cases, siphon off funds from the European Union, of which both countries are members. 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And a Playboy model","author":"Bureau for Investigative Reporting and Data","date":"2 December 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) has revealed new details about the large-scale VAT draining scheme, at the top of which stands the Neapolitan mafia Camorra. Bulgarian companies and individuals are involved in Operation Moby Dick, including businesswoman Maya Metodieva and famous model Vanya Tosheva, who claims to have been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2024"","block_context":{"text":"2024","link":"https:\/\/bird.bg\/en\/category\/2024-en\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bird.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/vanya-moby-dick.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bird.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/vanya-moby-dick.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bird.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/vanya-moby-dick.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bird.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/vanya-moby-dick.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bird.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/vanya-moby-dick.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":26345,"url":"https:\/\/bird.bg\/en\/milky-group-vilor-brendo\/","url_meta":{"origin":38251,"position":4},"title":"Milk with brand Brendo: A drug lord’s man is behind a company from the LB Bulgaricum scandal","author":"Bureau for Investigative Reporting and Data","date":"23 February 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Warning! This is an automatic translation from Bulgarian. The translation has not been checked by the editor desk and may be inaccurate or ambiguous. The publisher endorses only the Bulgarian version of the article.","rel":"","context":"In "2023 with BIRD"","block_context":{"text":"2023 with BIRD","link":"https:\/\/bird.bg\/en\/category\/2023-with-bird\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bird.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/milky-group-vilor-brendo.png?fit=990%2C556&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bird.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/milky-group-vilor-brendo.png?fit=990%2C556&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bird.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/milky-group-vilor-brendo.png?fit=990%2C556&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bird.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/milky-group-vilor-brendo.png?fit=990%2C556&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":24600,"url":"https:\/\/bird.bg\/en\/nra-wrote-off-3-billion-of-debts-of-companies-in-october\/","url_meta":{"origin":38251,"position":5},"title":"NRA wrote off 3 billion of debts of companies in October","author":"Bureau for Investigative Reporting and Data","date":"23 November 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Warning! This is an automatic translation from Bulgarian. The translation has not been checked by the editor desk and may be inaccurate or ambiguous. 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