The trend of approximately every third establishment on our Black Sea coast having violations continues. This was stated in the program “This Morning“ by Anna Mitova, Director of the “Communications“ Directorate at the National Revenue Agency (NRA).
The NRA finds violations in approximately every third inspected facility on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. Since the beginning of the summer, tax officials have been carrying out mass inspections at the sea and in nightclubs throughout the country. Unissued receipts, hidden turnover and violations in the currency conversion of prices have been found.
“To date, we have carried out 2,100 inspections, in which 700 violations have been identified. Since the beginning of the summer control campaign, which started on June 29, the trend of approximately every third establishment having violations has persisted“, explained Mitova.
“What we did last night in Sofia was a similar action in well-known eating establishments in the ideal center of the capital. There the data was even more eloquent - 11 inspected establishments and over 30 violations, that is, 3-4 violations per establishment“, she pointed out.
According to her, there were violations in all establishments. “We are placing 7 of them under monitoring. This means that there will be our inspectors who, throughout the day, while the establishment is open, will monitor the entire cash flow, the issuance of fiscal documents and everything else“.
“If violations or discrepancies are found in the turnover that we monitor, then we move on to other control actions - inspections, audits of the company, etc.“, said Mitova.
She shared that there are 25 sites on the Black Sea coast that are placed under constant monitoring. This means that the inspectors are there all the time while the site is open. “We monitor compliance with tax and social security legislation. What we observe in some sites is that the turnover jumps by more than 100%“.
“This, of course, will lead to subsequent actions. It is important to say that any inspection that shows that a trader is not correct, that he does not issue receipts or that there is a difference in cash availability, which may be due to a desire to conceal turnover, leads to subsequent actions“, explained Mitova.
In her words, the issue is not only in the fine that will be imposed, but also in everything else that follows. “The efforts of the administration and the General Directorate “ Fiscal Control “ to improve fiscal discipline are enormous, because what we observe does not look good at all“.
She shared that there are cases in which the failure to issue receipts or the failure to submit a report is the employees' mistake. “I would not say that the failure to issue a receipt is a human error, because this can hardly be missed. Rather, it is an error in reporting turnover“.
Mitova explained that issuing an interim invoice is a violation because it is not a fiscal document. “You can only pay after you are issued a fiscal receipt. An interim invoice is not a receipt“.
“Clients can withhold payment until they are issued a fiscal receipt. This is regulated by law“, she said.
“As a consumer, if they do not issue you a receipt or give you a document that says “invoice“, “interim invoice“ etc., and not a fiscal receipt with the necessary details, you can say that you will not pay until you are issued one“, explained Mitova.
She shared that starting this morning at 8:00 a.m., a joint operation with the General Directorate of the “Border Police“ will start on the internal borders with Romania and Greece. “We will check vehicles that transport goods with a high fiscal risk. The list is very long and is published on the NRA website - meat, dairy products, vegetables, fruits, fuels, nuts, coffee and many other goods“.
“Our observations show that for these goods there is a mandatory prior declaration. This is done through an electronic system and every cargo that passes - regardless of whether it is from an EU member state or a third country, must be declared. We see this information in real time“.
According to her, these are goods with a high fiscal risk and it is with them that VAT abuses are most often committed. “Since we notice a certain underestimation of revenues in this area, we have started checks on both borders this morning. We will stop vehicles based on risk analysis and check whether the goods are declared correctly in our systems. This can be done in real time“.