site.btaFour Institutions Launch Large-Scale Monitoring of Producers and Traders of Excise Goods

Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov ordered large-scale control activities in tax warehouses and wholesale traders of excise goods to begin on April 11, the government press service announced on Friday.

The joint actions of the Customs Agency, the National Revenue Agency, the Interior Ministry and the State Agency for National Security are within the framework of the coordination mechanism for constant control, prevention of smuggling, and compliance with tax and social security legislation, announced by Zhelyazkov on Wednesday. The aim of the action is to establish permanent control and to counteract smuggling and the grey sector.

The four institutions launch specialized monitoring of tax warehouses for the production and storage of motor fuel, production of high ABV percentage alcohol and cigarettes, and of retail outlets for the sale of excise goods (alcohol and tobacco products). The monitoring is based on preliminary risk analyses for the relevant excise sectors and is a preventive control measure for compliance with excise and tax legislation.

The monitoring foresees around the clock physical control of incoming raw materials and outgoing excise goods at 47 tax warehouses across the country, and 18 warehouses and wholesale outlets in 12 cities. As part of the joint actions, at commercial establishments the amounts marked on the fiscal devices will be compared with the amount at hand in the cashbox, and the quantities of goods in the warehouses will be compared with the description in the companies' information systems. The teams will also conduct full sales monitoring, customers of the relevant wholesale outlets will also be checked. Samples from the tax warehouses will be taken for laboratory analysis, checks of remote reporting systems and of excise reporting will be carried out.

The scope of the coordinated actions of the institutions may expand to the observation and check of additional sites.

Over 500 employees from the Customs Agency, the National Revenue Agency, the State Agency for National Security and the Interior Ministry will be involved in the monitoring, and the work of tax warehouses and commercial establishments will not be hindered, the announcement says.