. . Germany - the taxman cometh

[cheakyp]

Naturally, I don't know whether you have paid over any funds yet or what your legal advice has told you, but a MARD can be challenged on two counts:

1) If the case in the originating country is still contested. Since you were unaware there was a case against you until the MARD arrived, clearly the case was still contested, since you had been denied the opportunity to deal with it. As you put in your first post, there was no breakdown of how the figures were arrived at, or whether they were correct or not. In the first instance, you should have had the MARD rejected because you had not been able to contest it.

2) There are time limits on the raising of a MARD (five years after the debt is realised according to the documentation), so it is perfectly possible the MARD was invalid on that score.

1) I got a breakdown after enquiries with the finanzamt and got a reduction in interest because I hadn't been presented with the figures when they were first calculated.

2) The debt was "established" in 2011 by the DE tax man - so the MARD is still within the time limits.

To be honest, the HMRC have been very helpful in sorting things out and have put the case on hold whilst I've negotiated with DE. I've not paid a penny yet but shall be doing so in the next couple of days.

[eagle64]

Mared

So how long does it take from say the first bill for unpaid tax until it becomes a MARD in UK ?

[cheakyp]

So how long does it take from say the first bill for unpaid tax until it becomes a MARD in UK ?

I left DE in May 2006.
The tax enquiries began at the start 2011, but as I moved in 2010 they couldn't contact me (not that they tried very hard). The MARD wasn't raised until January this year.

Because I hadn't seen the tax demand, they wiped any interest accrued from 2011. It took me a couple of months to get the money together but they still didn't add anymore interest. They could obviously see that I was being cooperative. I paid all the money via HMRC as they own the debt (and it saved in currency conversion costs!).

If you left DE and they have your correct address, it won't get as far as a MARD as they will be able to contact you (unless you ignore their letters of course).

[jonnyd]

hi all,

I just got a letter form the german tax authorities saying they have started criminal proceedings for tax evasion! I had a 9 month contract in 2010/11.

what do I do now! Im tulipting my pants!
Can anyone recommend a lawyer of tax official who can help in Germany?

Any advice from anyone much appreciated!

jd

[captainham]

hi all,

I just got a letter form the german tax authorities saying they have started criminal proceedings for tax evasion! I had a 9 month contract in 2010/11.

what do I do now! Im tulipting my pants!
Can anyone recommend a lawyer of tax official who can help in Germany?

Any advice from anyone much appreciated!

jd

You do what was suggested in your other thread earlier today...

http://forums.contractoruk.com/accou...ml#post1929243

Check this out too:
http://forums.contractoruk.com/welco...uk-forums.html

[cheakyp]

Criminal Convictions

There's been a lot of mention on this thread about convictions going onto ECRIS so that your criminal conviction in Germany will follow you to the UK.

Well I ran a disclosure check on myself and as of yesterday my record is clean despite a conviction in DE. If anyone else has done something similar but got a different result, it would be interesting to hear.

Also, somebody else mentioned that a criminal conviction automatically prevents you getting security clearance. It doesn't. (And this info comes from somebody who works in DV in a government organisation that takes about 6 months to vet candidates). Obviously if you work in the finance sector then things maybe different.

[daisey57]

Ex colleague contracted in Germany for 10 months via UK agency and paid in DE account. Told UK agency he was a Freibrufler but he never registered in DE, nor with F-Amt, no DE phone, internet, gym membership, etc. Stayed in holiday apartment (never gave them his name or passport info).

He was advised this by other colleagues who did this for 2+ years without any trouble

Will they all get in trouble ?

German client has no record they worked there. UK agency invoices them. Can UK agencies by audited by F-amt? That's the only paper trail

[EXPATTAX]

A UK agency will not be audited by the German tax man as long as it does not have an office in Germany. There are however many other ways in which they can get their information.
You said, that he was paid into a German bank account. Well, you cannot open a bank account in Germany without being officially registered with a German address. Would be interesting to hear about that.How he managed to open an account without any footprints.

The tax man will audit the German end client. It is standard procedure that they take a particular interest in services provided from abroad. In the cases I have seen, UK agencies do provide details of who worked on their behalf for the end client. They usually have names or even copies of time sheets with the invoice, as the end client will only pay invoices for services properly supplied. Otherwise they cannot check those invoices. I have seen one case, in which the agency used coded numbers instead of contractor names on their invoices. Guess what happened? The auditors blood pressure went through the roof. They took a really close look and found out that this was a systematic tax scam. The agency had 40 contractors involved in this for years. At least one went to jail, several on the run overseas and some in real pain over the penalties.

Also, please keep this in mind: if the German end client goess through an audit, the audited company have one interest only: to protect their own back. And if questions arise, they will not protect the agency or the contractor. They will force the agency to provide every tiny bit - otherwise this agency will never do business with them again. I have seen agencies providing more information than they were asked to on a silver tray bending over backwards to make sure to comply.

You are saying, colleagues did this as well and nothing happened. Of course nothing happened for a while - 2-3 years is actually a very short time. There is normally a time lag of 5 to 8 years before these things blow up. In the meantime all those involved will tell you, that it is all grand....

Bottom line: Europe is a very small place and a very very bad hiding place these days.

Thomas

[newblood]

Has anyone heard of similar proceedings that have been started in France or other EU countries ?

Also any updates from the past posters on this ? How much flesh did they have to give up in the end ?

[EXPATTAX]

Hi there,

I guess it depends on what exactly you mean with "similiar proceedings", but we have been dealing with cases in the UK, France and Spain. The local tax offices in those countries acted on behalf of the Germany tax office via the MARD system (mutual assistance), tracked down people who owed taxes in Germany and assisted in collecting outstanding tax money. So, these kind of proceedings certainly do take place.

Hope this helps.

Thomas Zitzelsberger - expattax.de