Economic Association Vorarlberg: Tax evasion remains controversial!

Economic Association Vorarlberg: Tax evasion remains controversial!

The public prosecutor has hired the proceedings against the Vorarlberg Economic Association and its officials. This is done in the context of possible tax evasion, which have been suspected for several years. The investigation showed that the Economic Association and its officials considered its advertisers from the membership magazine "Vorarlberg's Economy" as not subject to sales and corporation tax. However, the public prosecutor did not succeed in proving that the board of directors acted deliberately, which would be necessary for criminal persecution. Small newspaper reports that the central question remains whether there is actually a tax liability for this revenue.

A lawyer of the Economic Association, Wilhelm Klagian, expressed that due to the decision -making decision "nothing was left" and there will be no consideration of the voluntary disclosure. This also affects the annual complaint against a judgment on a Christmas dinner by the former state governor Karlheinz Rüdisser, which is still open. Rüdisser and several ex-officials were sentenced to fines. For example, Rüdisser had to pay 27,500 euros, while other leaders received fines between 10,000 and 15,000 euros.

Tax examination and additional payments

A tax audit has led to large additional payments for the Economic Association. These comprise a total of around 484,000 euros in sales tax, 388,000 euros in corporation tax and 106,000 euros in granting for the period from 2016 to 2021. This happened in particular in terms of advertisements that made up more than half of the pages in the "Vorarlberg Economy". Pulse 24 informs that the then chairman Hans Peter Metzler was apparently informed about the tax liability. Nevertheless, he had managed to ignore this.

The Administrative Court had already decided in 2015 that the publication of this magazine is considered the operation of a commercial nature, which causes the tax obligation. Nevertheless, the business association justified itself with a voluntary disclosure in which a new legal situation had been overlooked. In this point of view, however, the examiners did not see any legitimate reason and argued that taxes were "with knowledge and will".

Unclear and taxation

Another challenge is the unclear classification of the Economic Association. It is discussed whether it should be classified as a partial organization of the ÖVP or as an independent association. This classification has a significant impact on the donation tax, which could also be important for the future financing structure. In addition, IT problems in the tax office lead to delays in the delivery of modest, which raises additional questions and could affect transparency.

It is clear that tax evasion can result in serious consequences on the part of the company and on an individual basis. A proper bookkeeping and timely submission of the VAT advance registration are of crucial importance in order to meet the requirements of tax law. Gaps in the procedure can inevitably lead to legal difficulties, as can also be seen here. Anwalt.de It emphasizes that false or failed taxes can have serious consequences.