The Federal police are looking into the audit reports of 33 companies, some of which had gone for years without being investigated. Twenty of these companies are large tax payers, most of which are giant construction companies. The investigations, which are said to be looking into half a billion birr worth of possible tax evasion, have been separated into three categories.
The police and Office of the Attorney General (OAG) began their investigation this past week. A source confirmed that most of the cases are going to be finished within a month.
The first category is looking closely at hundreds of lost cash register machines. This is becoming a major problem for revenue collection. The investigating team is working to make the people issuing receipts without transactions accountable, which sources in the enquiry said were the most controversial.
“Police have not been able to arrest these individuals who took machines because they gave false addresses and disappeared or the machines have been lost,” the source told Capital.
Another group of people are said to have been declaring incorrect amount of tax. It is possible criminal charges will not be filed against these people, sources disclosed.
The third category involves audit reports revealing intention to evade taxes. This category is most likely to be prosecuted.
The receipts have been printed by the lost cash register machines for consecutive years. The Authority has been unable to trace the machines and some of the individuals who issued them. Companies have been discovered to be holding these deceptive receipts which the authority says do not involve actual transactions.
Capital was not able to obtain comments from the Ministry of Revenue or Police because the investigation is ongoing.