Companies that want to deceive the Ministry of Finance use all kind of tricks to avoid paying taxes; the most recent one is the use of deceased people as false providers and vacant lots as tax addresses.
This was the case of a company that apparently bought ₡ 1.6 billion from suppliers, but when the Taxation Office carried out an investigation, it found a very particular pattern: Two of the suppliers represented more than 90% of the sales. When tracing these people, it was detected that both were already dead.
It was known that both were enrolled as taxpayers a few days after their death through the Tribunet system.
Both made the sales and one year later, they were not longer considered taxpayers by the same lawyer, who used a power. When checking their addresses, it was known that it was the same place, but described with two different landmarks. In addition, it was a vacant lot.
This case corresponds to a cellphone and electronic accessories store that mobilized more than ₡ 8,000 million in a year.
The case was presented to the Public Prosecutor’s Office for the alleged tax evasion of 2.6 billion colones and an additional administrative proceeding of ₡ 144 million.