Africa-Press – Cape verde. The Ministry of Finance has “Operation Zero Risk” under way, through which it intends to collect at least part of the 19 billion escudos in debts that individuals have with the State. As the bulk of this money concerns large taxpayers, some say that “Zero Risk” is aimed primarily at small and medium-sized companies. Faced with our questions, the DNRE prefers silence.
With the crisis, the state coffers are at the point of death, with collection levels far below the usual. The solution, for now, was for the Ministry of Finance, through the National Directorate of State Revenue (DNRE), to launch Operation Zero Risk.
This involves, among other measures, a series of field actions, combined with inspections, in some sectors considered to be of high risk. And, in extreme cases, the authorities do not rule out the possibility of ordering the foreclosure of the most chronic debtors.
In recent statements to RCV, the head of the DNRE, Liza Vaz, revealed that there is a first group formed by companies that are willing to comply, and “comply voluntarily”, and that, “with regard to these, the attitude of the tax administration is to facilitate”.
A second group of debtors is made up of those who “want to contribute, but do not know how to do it”, underlining the person in charge that in this segment “the attitude”, of the DNRE, “is to support and clarify”.
But there is still a third group that “doesn’t want to do it well, but if it’s forced, it ends up doing it”. For this group of reluctant people, says Liza Vaz, “the attitude of the tax administration is to control”.
Finally, there is a fourth group of taxpayers who “insist on not wanting to comply”. And, for this group considered to be at high risk, “Risco Zero” promises to be “muscled”, with measures that may, in the extreme, involve closing the doors of the respective establishments.
The Zero Risk Operation, as far as A NAÇÃO was able to learn, aims to reduce the tax gap, to cover the 40% difference in tax collection. Altogether, the State has to collect more than 19 billion escudos, an important part of which from large companies and groups, which use the most varied stratagems to evade the tax authorities (see xxx).
Faced with this fact, a specialist in tax matters heard by A NAÇÃO believes that the current campaign by the Ministry of Finance is nothing more than a way of “persecuting” small and medium-sized companies, leaving the “powerful” aside, as it usually ends up being. happen.
Furthermore, the act of closing companies “is not the responsibility” of the tax authorities, but of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, hence this measure does not impress the “big ones” who know how to do it, through their respective legal offices.
Furthermore, underlines our source, “abuse of fiscal confidence does not lead to the closure of companies”, underlining that only the crimes of fraud and forgery of documents can lead to the closure of companies.
“If there is a situation that configures the commission of crimes, the DNRE must submit them to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which does have the competence to close down companies”, he says.
voluntary compliance
According to a statement from the DNRE, Operation Zero Risk began on the 27th of July and is part of the second phase of a series of field operations. It aims to promote voluntary compliance with tax obligations, increase the perception of risk, as well as prevent situations in which non-compliance persists and require corrective and punitive action in the face of defaulters.
This operation, which will last from July to December, will be concluded with the materialization of the third phase – inspection (corrective/punitive), which consists of identifying and inspecting taxpayers who persist in non-compliance, acting punitively and criminally, when such justify.
The first phase of the Zero Risk Operation preventive/pedagogical phase -, began in the first quarter, with the holding of clarification sessions, within the scope of the principle of cooperation determined in paragraph 1 of article 69 of the General Tax Code (CGT) , with economic operators at risk.
State has more than 19 billion contos to collect
Data and maps to which THE NATION had access indicate that more than a hundred entities owe the State over 19 billion escudos, both in VAT and withholding at source.
Such debts have been dragging on for several years, with the alleged approval of the tax authorities, especially when the debtors are large companies and groups. In this list are several tourist groups, companies of some size, among others.
The expert consulted by A NAÇÃO warns that undelivered collections constitute a crime and that it is therefore “incomprehensible” that the tax administration is not acting on large taxpayers, preferring, instead, to tighten the siege on small and medium-sized companies.
“With this attitude of the tax administration, we are faced with a clear violation of article 91 (General principles of economic organization), which establishes that the exploitation of the country’s wealth and economic resources, whatever their ownership and the ways in which they are magazine, is subordinated to the general interest”, he advocates.
The referred article also emphasizes that the State, as a whole, through its operating mechanisms, guarantees the conditions for the realization of economic democracy.
This involves, in particular, the enjoyment by all citizens of the benefits resulting from the collective effort of development, translated into the quantitative and qualitative improvement of their standard of living and condition of life, as well as the equality of conditions of establishment and activity between economic agents and healthy competition.
However, if this is the general principle, the reality is quite different, as mentioned by our interlocutor. “Some are allowed to keep State resources (VAT and withholding at source), for a good period of time, ‘improper’ financing their activities, through taxpayer resources, to others, namely the most fragile, it is enforced the law and with threats of termination of its business activities”.
For our interlocutor, the DNRE’s actions in the field and in the services of the territorial divisions and in the control of tax compliance, “are essentially aimed at the so-called small taxpayers with organized accounting and at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) which are the sector of the economy more dynamic and faster growing in most African countries, with a great impact on employment, which as reported by some of these taxpayers contacted, of being confronted by the municipal finance services, with coercive collections and administrative offenses”.
This specialist in tax matters asks who is interested in the “inertia, inefficiency and inefficiency of the DNRE” in the collection of taxes from the so-called large taxpayers, who “accumulate unpaid taxes, amounting to around 19 billion escudos, settled”, that is, taxes calculated by the tax administration, “from 2016 to the present date”.
For the same source, many of the big taxpayers say, in their defense, that the State does not pay them what it owes them and that, therefore, they try not to pay the taxes due. “However, when they make a collection and do not pay the tax authorities, they incur a crime of tax abuse”, he warns.
Non-delivery of VAT and withholding at source constitute tax crimes, punishable under the terms of articles 89 and 94 of the RITNA (Non-Customs Tax Information Regime), for abuse of fiscal confidence.
Revenue collection “is not encouraging”
The collection of taxes is seen as essential for the economic survival of any country. In the case of Cape Verde, even before Covid-19, the effectiveness of the tax administration was considered to be “critical”, but also unfair, since taxpayers who cannot escape the tax system end up, in practice, , for carrying the country on his back.
“Usually, the ways in which governments finance their actions, especially those of a social nature, are through resources from the collection of taxes under the Constitution and also, through economic and financial means, raised within the framework of international cooperation”, he recalls. our interlocutor.
This specialist emphasizes, however, that, over the years, successive governments have demonstrated “skills” in accessing economic and financial resources from international partners, but “the same cannot be said in relation to the collection of tax revenues from all countries”. taxpayers”.
“The results are not encouraging, due to the fact that there is a large stock of uncollected taxes paid. The World Bank and the IMF have been questioning, in successive reports, the need to maximize resources from taxation”, he says.
DNRE prefers silence
In order to fully clarify “Operação Risco Zero”, especially the alleged gap of 40% in the collection of tax revenues, NAÇÃO tried to hear, through a face-to-face interview with the DNRE, Liza Vaz, who was refused. Even so, on Monday morning, we sent a set of questions, to which we received no response.
Our questionnaire was, among other things, to know if the tax administration is really “persecuting” small taxpayers, to the detriment of large taxpayers who owe more than 19 billion escudos in taxes (VAT and withholding tax).
We also wanted to know how the DNRE intends to close the doors of the establishments of the defaulters, knowing that this is a competence of the Public Ministry?
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