MULTI-MILLION EURO SCRAP METAL VAT SCAM DISCOVERED

European Union (EU) police agency Europol says it has broken a sophisticated value-added tax (VAT) fraud, involving trading scrap metal between Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The scam involves so-called ‘carousel’ or ‘missing-trader’ fraud where scrap has been sold in a chain or buyers, with VAT being charged on each sale. The final buyer in the chain then disappears with the scrap metal and sells it on the black market; while the last seller reclaims the VAT they paid on its purchase from customs authorities. They are unable to claim VAT from ...


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