On 28 March 2023, the FISC Subcommittee had an exchange of views with Ms Laura Kövesi, European Chief Prosecutor from the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) on the “Enhancement of available tools in the fight against VAT Fraud”.
The EPPO’s recent and so far most prominent intervention in relation to VAT carousel fraud, the ‘Operation Admiral’, has revealed once again the gravity of VAT fraud in the EU. It revealed a scheme that is estimated to have cost governments €2.2 billion and has involved organised crime groups in 14 Member States. The complexity of such cross-border schemes requires elaborate tools and close cooperation between prosecutors in multiple countries to fight against them.
The aim of this exchange of views is to shed light on VAT carousel fraud in the EU, costing around €50 billion annually in tax losses to the Member States and on EPPO’s daily mission to uncovering these fraud schemes. FISC Members will have the opportunity to discuss the main legal and administrative obstacles to the fight against VAT carousel fraud as well as how the European Parliament and EPPO can work together to put an end to VAT fraud in the EU.
Source: europarl.europa.eu
