Tax fraud: raids across Belgium and Luxembourg

Financial constructions were set up to allow Belgian citizens to prevent the taxman from keeping tabs on their income and VAT takings. Kortrijk public prosecutors have taken the lead in this investigation and ordered the raids.

It is understood that a West Flemish accountant offered Belgians the possibility to have companies in Luxembourg and Cyprus invoice their services. The structure of the corporations and the nature of the invoices meant that little tax was paid on these bills in Belgium.

The raids were staged in order to discover whether the fraudulent financial structures set up were linked to domicile fraud. The suspicion is that on paper operations were based abroad, but that in actual fact they were managed from Belgium. In such cases taxes are due here and not abroad.

The results of the raids have yet to be revealed.

[Flandersnews.be / Expatica]