The STI has created schemes: residents under the cover of benefits tried to avoid hundreds of thousands of euros in taxes

According to the report, Kaunas CSTI employees, having carried out the control actions of six residents, calculated that almost 642 thousand LTL had not been paid to the budget. personal income tax (PIT), interest and penalties.

“The STI has revealed complex models of tax avoidance. The schemes explained were not entirely uniform, but were linked by the fact that the controlled persons sought to reduce their tax obligations by lawful means, but contrary to the essence of the law, that is, following aggressive tax planning to avoid taxes. All the schemes created favorable conditions for fictitious transactions in a deliberate sequence. The suspicion was caused by the fact that a group of natural persons bought the shares of the company at a low price and did not pay taxes after using them at a high price, taking advantage of the benefits of GPM ”, says Judita Stankienė, director of the CSTI of Kaunas.

In the case discussed by the tax administrator, in 2011 37% of the population acquired companies located abroad. shareholding – each of the population about 5 percent. Share. Some neighbors bought the company’s shares for 100 euros and sold them for 1 million. euros. The preparations for this transaction were made in anticipation of the fact that, under the benefit of the PIT law in force at that time, the proceeds of the sale did not exceed 10%. the shares purchased are tax free.

2013 after the announcement of a draft amendment to the GPM Act, according to which the profit is abolished and income from securities will be taxed by the GPM, residents rushed to sell shares to related parties. There were no actual cash settlements, and formal tripartite agreements and loan agreements with share buyers gave the impression that residents received income from securities in 2013, under the PIT. In later periods, the population treated the income as repaid loans, when in fact it was income from securities.

In discussing this case, J. Stankienė points out that if the concluded transaction chains are difficult to explain in normal business logic, not profitable for the taxpayers themselves, the STI suspects that it is related to tax evasion.

The tax administrator points out that well thought out sequences of actions and complex transaction schemes are created to formally comply with the legal provisions on the application of benefits and to complicate the work of the STI in establishing such schemes. However, they are seen and identified by tax professionals, and transactions are evaluated based on the principle of content primacy over form, thus preventing tax fraud.

The STI recalls that residents can report various tax violations observed by calling the trust’s phone number 1882, as well as completing the electronic questionnaire on the website.