Both Slovakia and the Czech Republic are putting a lot of effort into the fight against tax evasion, according to finance ministers of both countries Peter Kažimír and Andrej Babiš, they said at the Tatra Summit in Bratislava on Tuesday. Babiš, who is originally Slovak, noted that the Czech Republic is currently focusing mainly on carousel frauds, which cost the country €3.5 billion annually.
Typically, carousel fraud involves sellers importing products from countries without VAT, selling with VAT added and then skipping the country before the relevant taxation year. Babiš also stated that measures against tax evasion may bring €1 billion per year to the state coffers. According to Kažimír, Slovakia continues in cooperation with the Czech Republic in its effort to boost tax collection. “We exchange information, we want to learn from each other and compare our results”, said the Slovak finance minister, adding that tax collection in Slovakia has significantly improved over the past two years. “Slovakia and the Czech Republic are among countries that are exposed to relatively more aggressive tax planning than other countries”, said Kažimír, adding that information exchange is vital in dealing with this situation.
