site.btaTax Fraud Group Busted, Four Detained

In a raid by the General Directorate for Combating Organised Crime (DGCOC), a tax fraud group has been busted which through the sale of mobile phones has defrauded the budget by BGN 5 million, the Interior Ministry said on its Facebook page Friday. Four people aged between 25 and 57 have been detained.

The operation was carried out in Sofia and Varna (on the Black Sea). In the course of the pre-trial proceedings, it was established that intra-community purchases of mobile phones were made through controlled trading companies. The goods were subsequently traded on the domestic market through physical shops and online platforms. The proceeds from the sales were not declared to the National Revenue Agency.

The purpose of the scheme was to avoid the payment of VAT and corporate tax. Damage to the budget of some BGN 5 million has been identified for the 2022-2024 period.

During the investigation, the law enforcers searched 13 properties in Sofia and 12 in Varna. Boxes of mobile phones, smartwatches and other equipment without documents, computer configurations, laptops, flash drives, hard drives, cash registers and documents relevant to the ongoing proceedings were seized, the Facebook post reads.