Law enforcement agencies have discovered major fraud in the import of nuts and dried fruits to Russia. The nuances of the criminal scheme are described by the Kommersant newspaper. According to the Investigative Committee, the attackers created several front companies in the Kaliningrad region, according to legend – for processing, packaging and further shipment of goods.
These companies received nuts and dried fruits by sea from Turkey, China, Peru, Chile, Vietnam and other countries. However, instead of handling the goods, they were transiting containers to Russian cities. The meaning of the scheme was in the Kaliningrad region itself, more precisely, in its status as a special economic zone. Goods were imported there in a preferential regime, without import duties and taxes. Thus, possible tax evasion for only one quarter amounted to 500 million rubles. Perhaps the total amount is much higher.
The defendants in the case were searched, including the alleged organizer of the scheme, co-founder of the Association of Operators of the Market of Nuts, Dried Fruits and Spices Maria Ankudinova. Taxadvisor partner Dmitry Kostalgin comments:
“Since the regime of a resident of a special economic zone in Kaliningrad implies that there is some production and, accordingly, some products are produced in the territory of the Kaliningrad region, this provides certain advantages and preferences for such residents. That is, import duties and VAT for such residents are zeroed, that is, zero rates, as well as income tax – a zero rate, there are reduced rates of insurance premiums. If such a company distorts, in terms of the Tax Code, its activities, that is, in fact, it is not production, but simply buy and sell, which this zone is not focused on, in this case, such a company saves on taxes: first of all, import duties , VAT, income tax. The company distorted the documentation and misled, for example, the authority that approves and grants the status of a resident of this zone, this is illegal, in fact, they deceived and misled. The next question is how far the authorities that issued the residence statuses could assume and know.
Now the Federal Tax Service of Russia is conducting field tax audits, inspections are taking place at the largest operators in the market of nuts and dried fruits.