Disclosed “restaurant” tax avoidance scheme

Rosfinmonitoring, together with the Federal Tax Service (FTS) and the Bank of Russia, has identified one of the largest shadow platforms for tax evasion, concealment and legalization of the income of restaurants and cafes. Through chains of banks, money was transferred to car dealerships and travel agencies to buy cash. Writes about it RBC with reference to two sources familiar with the audit, and the press service of the financial intelligence.

Presumably, the scheme is connected with the use of processing services for the shadow turnover of funds. As RBC was specified in the press service of the financial intelligence service, companies providing payment services, as well as several credit institutions, were involved in the calculations. Rosfinmonitoring and the Federal Tax Service are currently investigating this fact.

The press service of Rosfinmonitoring noted that this scheme could be used not only for tax evasion, but also for laundering funds obtained by criminal means.

Payments by customers of the shadow platform went through a chain of at least three credit institutions, and two processing companies worked at the input and output of funds, the tax service told RBC. All this made it more difficult to track payments and calculate customers.

“At the same time, the cash flow coming from restaurants, in large part, came to companies that have nothing to do with the restaurant business, but generate a stable cash flow. That is, non-cash money from restaurants at some stage was changed to non-collected cash, ”the Federal Tax Service explained.

To prevent the shadow scheme from attracting attention due to discrepancies between the cash register and the current account, restaurants were provided with a replacement cash desk for unaccounted revenue, a representative of the Federal Tax Service told RBC.

In addition, according to RBC’s source in the regulatory authorities, the organizers of the scheme opened a “showroom” in Moscow for those wishing to get acquainted with their services. It is noted that in this “showroom” communication took place and papers were signed, customers installed an application for tracking and managing hidden revenue. After that, technical specialists came to the restaurant and set up replacement cash desks and card terminals. In the event of termination of the contract, all received equipment was taken away, and the personal account in the application was blocked, the source noted.

According to the Central Bank, in the first half of 2022, 21% of all consumption of shadow financial services, including cashing out, was in the service sector.