Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

TAX EVASION

Online tax evasion worth billions

The Internet has enabled many companies to operate outside the purview of public authorities. The Swedish Tax Authority (Skatteverket) estimates that online tax evasion amounts to around 5 billion kronor ($638.7 million).

Published: 18 July 2009 09:33 CEST

Online tax evasion worth billions

Large amounts of cash are circulated in e-commerce and in various types of Internet companies. Skatteverket is reviewing Internet commerce in a national project that will be completed at the end of the year. Since 2007, the project has led to 670 million kronor ($85.6 million) in back taxes, of which 350 million kronor ($44.7) were related to various poker websites, reported Dagens Nyheter (DN) newspaper.

“Within the poker industry, this is often related to ‘fake traders’. You have a foreign server and pretend that the company has operations in the Virgin Islands, but it’s in Sweden the whole time,” project manager Dag Hardyson told DN.

According to Skatteverket, examples of e-commerce that should be taxed are when someone sells an avatar via an online advertisement. In the last 14 months, there have been 12,000 advertisements for avatars placed by around 7,000 private inviduals for a total estimated value of 662 million kronor ($84.6 million).

In 2007, companies and individuals paid 420 million kronor ($53.7 million) in back taxes, in 2008 140 million kronor ($17.9 million) and thus far in 2009 the figure is 110 million kronor ($14.1), reported DN.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

How to avoid falling victim to tax scams in Sweden

Anyone who earned more than 22,208 kronor last year received their tax returns digitally last week, marking the start of tax season.

That also means an expected peak in tax-related scams, Skatteverket warns.

Most of the scams are so-called phishing scams, meaning attempts to steal the victims’ personal information. Fraudsters may for example email a person, pretending to represent Skatteverket, and ask them for, among other things, their banking details.

“We’re seeing these in all channels. They use fake emails, SMS, letters and in some cases even phone calls. It is particularly common in tax declaration times – just when we’re about to send out the tax returns, the e-service opens and it’s possible to declare – but above all when it’s time for tax rebates,” Jan Janowski, a Skatteverket expert, told Swedish news agency TT.

A scam email might for example state that you’re entitled to a tax rebate and that you should click a link to receive it. Don’t click any links, open any attachments or reply to the message. Skatteverket advises that you immediately delete the email or text message.

Another common scam is that you receive a text message claiming to be from Skatteverket, telling you that you owe them money and you need to log in to calculate the amount. The website you’re urged to log in via does not belong to Skatteverket. Don’t click the link.

The agency stresses that it never asks people for their banking details. The exception is that you may be asked for your bank account information if you log into Skatteverket’s website to declare your taxes, but that always first requires you to log into the site.

To receive your tax rebate, you need to inform Skatteverket of your bank account number. You do this not by clicking a link in an email or SMS, but by logging into their website using a digital ID, for example BankID, and submitting your details. Only do this on your own initiative. If someone calls you and asks you to log in with your BankID during the phone call, don’t do it. That’s another common scam.

Skatteverket will also never call you to ask for your bank account or credit card number.

It will be possible to declare your taxes from March 19th. You’ll receive any tax rebate you’re owed by mid-April or early June, depending on when you submit your tax return. These are the dates when fraudsters are likely to attempt the most scams.

Url copied to clipboard!