The inspectors of the Tax Administration in Montenegro do not have enough technical knowledge and skills to detect and sanction possible tax evasion through the misuse of software, the institution said, but they also claim that during the controls so far "the use of software solutions" that would make this possible have not been observed.
"During the previous controls, the use of software solutions that enable tax evasion was not observed, and on that basis, no criminal charges have been filed so far due to suspicion of tax evasion arising from the installation and use of software solutions to hide traffic. This type of behavior by businessmen is not easy to detect during standard inspection procedures, which is why inspectors need technical knowledge and skills in detecting and sanctioning tax evasion related to misuse of software," said the Tax Administration.
The institution headed by Miomir M. Mugoš told "Vijesta" this while commenting on the "Kasa" affair in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which several persons were recently arrested and detained in Sarajevo, due to suspicions that they used a specialized catering program and thus hid the actual state of traffic.
In that action, 13 people were arrested in Sarajevo in March, and six more in April, including those responsible from several catering facilities.
Oleg Krautblat and Ines Juretić, the former director and the current director of the company Inspirit, which rented out "Insprit Gastro" to restaurateurs, software that enabled the Tax Administration of Bosnia and Herzegovina not to show the actual state of traffic, were also detained.
"The Tax Administration of Montenegro is familiar with the subject of the investigation of persons in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina who are suspected of having committed the criminal offense of tax evasion by abusing the software solution on the tax register of cash registers", the institution said to "Vijesta", and pointed out that - although they do not have capacity to notice it, during the previous controls on the Montenegrin market, tax inspectors did not record that anyone used the software to hide the true state of the traffic.
The "Inspirit gastro" software, which enabled restaurateurs in BiH to evade taxes by falsifying fiscal invoices, was also promoted in Montenegro two years ago, through the company VG Group. The same company still offers software with exactly the same interface, but with a different name.
Their software for restaurateurs, "VG Gastro", as executive director Srđan Grgić told "Vijesta", has about 80 users in Montenegro.
Grgić confirmed that two years ago, the Bar company, among other things, also promoted the BiH solution "Insprit Gastro" on Facebook, but he denies that today there is a connection between that and the version of the program offered by the company VG Gorup.
"We started selling the 'Inspirit Gastro' software in 2017, but we were not satisfied with the functionality of that software, so we asked for a program adapted to the Montenegrin market. After that, we called the new software 'VG gastro', and we replaced all the 'Inspirit gastro' programs that were on the market with new software," said Grgić to "Vijesta".
When asked if there is a connection between the two software or if it is a completely different product, he said that "the program 'VG gastro' is functionally completely different from the program 'Inspirit gastro'".
"Vijesti" interlocutors informed about the situation claim that there are several software solutions available on the Montenegrin market that allow users to hide real traffic from tax inspectors.
As one of them, they mention a solution that allows restaurateurs to issue a kitchen/bar order that contains invoice elements (item and price), but is not displayed in cash register reports...
They often come across double cash registers
Tax inspectors in Montenegro in the field are most often faced with non-recording of traffic through tax registers, which is subject to misdemeanor liability, but also with cases of recording of traffic through the so-called double cash registers, "Vijesti" was told.
In that case, as stated by the Tax Administration, part of the turnover is recorded through a fiscalized and part through a non-fiscalized cash register.
They are again planning the formation of the tax police
In order to educate tax inspectors, the Tax Administration will work with colleagues from the Federation of BiH in the coming period on education and information exchange.
They also remind that, with the aim of improving control and detection and sanctioning of criminal offenses in the field of economic traffic, the formation of the tax police is also planned.
Former employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Miodrag Mićo Martinović, was elected director of the tax police back in February 2016, but twenty days later it was proposed to abolish it, and that service has not come into being until today.
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