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KembaraXtra – Legal Terms – Missing Trader Intra-Community Fraud
Missing trader intra-community fraud, also known as carousel fraud, is a type of VAT fraud involving cross-border trade between countries within the European Union. It commonly occurs when businesses falsely claim repayment of VAT on exported goods that were supposedly sold to companies in another EU state.

The fraud often involves several interconnected companies operating across different countries. One company disappears without paying VAT to the tax authorities, while another claims a refund for VAT that was never properly paid. Because the transactions move through multiple businesses, the fraud can become highly complex and difficult to trace.

A related practice is acquisition fraud, where claims are made for input tax on goods or services that never actually existed. Both forms of fraud are regarded by tax authorities as serious attacks on the integrity of the VAT system.
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Specific anti-fraud measures were introduced under the Finance Act 2003 and the Finance Act 2006 to combat these practices. These provisions give authorities stronger powers to investigate suspicious transactions and recover unpaid tax.
Such fraud schemes can involve enormous financial losses to governments and are often linked to organized criminal networks operating internationally.

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