Tax inspectors launch new plan to fight fraud

The tax agency is launching a new offensive against the black economy by analyzing clues such as electricity bills that seem suspiciously high for premises that are supposedly empty.

A recent inspection by a joint team of tax and labor inspectors revealed an industrial warehouse filled with workers whose activity was going unreported to Social Security and the revenue service.

It was the first joint operation following an agreement signed nearly a year ago by both government agencies in a bid to uncover tax and labor irregularities.

The inspections will be carried out across Spain and focus on production centers, such as those located in industrial parks, and also at business establishments that do not file tax returns.

"The agreement is now beginning to bear fruit," said Joan Cano, the tax agency's inspections director. The initiative will also seek out workers who are collecting unemployment benefits and employees who are forced by their companies to register as self-employed in order to avoid having to pay out payroll taxes.

"There are many roads to take, but nobody should think that we're going to stop focusing on other areas," added Cano.

Cano said he has great hopes for the information gleaned from electricity bills, which until now the tax agency had to request on a case-by-case basis. Starting from this quarter, all the information will be available to inspectors going back to 2010, and will serve to detect undeclared business activity.

Meanwhile, inspectors will continue to trace 500-euro notes as they have for the past three years, and add 200-euro bills as well. This program has so far yielded 1.1 million euros in back payments.