José Coelho / Lusa
The former Portuguese-selector, Fernando Santos.
The tax administration detected in 2024 tax planning schemes in which taxpayers created companies to receive compensation and salary prizes in order to pay less taxes to the state.
In the report to combat tax and customs fraud and evasion of 2024, delivered to Parliament last week, the government states that, over the past year, this was One of the three areas main that the finances identified as “high risk of State Revenue Fraud“.
The area of inspection of the Tax and Customs Authority (AT) conducted a study with the objective of mapping “situations of filing commercial companies in receipt of compensation and/or other salary complements, for example, awards and/or bonusthrough companies that are detained by its beneficiaries“.
In this paper, the tax inspectors found concrete situations that “revealed evidence of the existence of Tax Planning Schemes which have as their main objective the decrease in taxation that it would be due in the personal sphere of passive subjects beneficiary compensation, salary supplements and/or independent work income in IRS, and the deduction of spending, in IRC (through the invoice issued by the company interposed), without proper autonomous taxation by the paying company ”.
With these solutions, taxpayers try to avoid taxation in IRS (in the personal sphere) and benefit from a lower taxation at IRC (through the company).
Case Fernando Santos
In 2023, regarding the Portuguese Football Federation, through a company coachthe Director General of the Tax Authority, Helena Borges, was called to Parliament To explain to what extent the use of unipessal companies are improperly used to pay labor income.
At the time, in a hearing on March 8, 2023, Helena Borges said the organization of this corporate form can be founded when it is used by workers who They exercise an individual activity individuallyand a problem if the beneficiaries resort to forms of “abuse” that violate the “possibilities that the legislator makes available to economic agents”.
In November 2022, the Public Prosecution Service investigated the FPF and Fernando Santos on suspicions of tax fraud due to the formula used for payments salaries to the coach and the coaching staff of the National Team.
“Everyone keeps me to say that This is perfectly normal. It is perfectly legitimate, in tax terms there is no problem, ”said the coach recently, alluding to the fact that Receive the salary of selector Through your company, the femacosa, instead of doing so directly through the FPF.
Evidence of fraud in the target
However, the AT included the Control to payment schemes of compensation and salary complements in the range of research work to be done in the context of combating situations of tax fraud of greater complexity.
In 2024, the finances prepared studies on the highest risk sectorsto “define and adopt global strategies” of combat and, at the same time, perform “directed actions” in administrative investigations with which to prove, with taxpayers, evidence of fraud that has previously identifiedrefers to the same report.
In addition to controlling business societies, there were two other areas where AT developed studies and saw risky situations.
One has to do with FALSE BILLING EMISSION. AT found companies without a “apparent structure for the exercise of an economic activity”And that did not deliver in the public coffers the“ VAT of the revenue issued to the state ”, reads in the report.
These intermediaries “allow users to decrease the value of VAT Delivering to the State or requesting VAT refunds, causing high losses ”to the public purse, the government also says in the document.
Another line of investigation went through “behavioral analysisOf new companies, in a “Early stage of the activity“To identify which ones have evidence of being created to enhance fraud situations.
The implementation of this control system began in 2023. The following year, AT continued this project and, together with other internal teams, the inspection identified Two Fraud Networks to VAT.