Be careful with certain terms
The accounts of many German catering establishments sometimes make you suspicious, and the information on the tax return is often tricked out in order to get the best possible financial advantage. The private date in a restaurant is quickly converted into a business meal, regular expenses are declared as special expenses in the tax return. As Die Zeit determined in 2014, restaurants are at the top of the list of tax dodgers. The invoices are made in such a way that they bring tax advantages for the respective operator or other benefits. With these bills, restaurants, but also other companies, are moving in the legal gray area.
Such invoices are conspicuous by certain keywords. If it says “intermediate bill” at the top of the bill, you should pay attention. The statement “This is not an invoice” can also be found in the individual list of the items ordered. Other terms such as “intermediate document”, “preliminary invoice”, “draft invoice” and “cash receipt” should make customers suspicious.
However, one restaurant makes it clear: It would not be a fraud process if an interim bill was issued. This is necessary in order to first find out from the restaurant guest whether he would like to pay in cash, by card or by direct debit. If a tax-deductible invoice is requested, this would be issued. But even with the cashing of the table without an additional receipt, all information regarding the tax would of course be entered correctly. If there is any uncertainty about the invoice, a correct invoice should always be requested. If this is brought, there is no need to worry.
Tax fraud runs into billions
These pseudo-invoices are often deleted at the checkout in the evening. According to the study by Die Zeit, it is a fact that many innkeepers in the catering trade distrust their employees and they also distrust their bosses. If a customer asks about an anomaly in the invoice, no one knows anything and refers to the next authority. That’s why there are now registerable cash registers, so that the operators know who did the billing and when. The state in turn uses these cash registers to check the landlords, since invoices must be listed with an invoice number for the tax auditors. The OECD knows that modern cash registers in particular open up a wide range of tax evasion variants, for example through software. The amounts are now in the billions. The Federal Court of Auditors estimates tax evasion in the catering trade to be worth ten billion euros, and the tax union even assumes that this number is only the minimum.
Hypersoft GmbH sells program packages for cash registers and accounting in the catering trade. Their guide explains when to use invoices or “pro forma receipts,” noting that if guests pay with a debit or credit card, verifiable invoices must be used, as these payments are traceable. In summary, the pseudo bills should only be used for cash bills. However, Hypersoft Managing Director Andreas Kroll replies that the instructions are old and that the Hypersoft system has been secured against any manipulation since 2005. Invoices cannot be deleted, neither can pro forma documents. Stories are told about a beer garden that would have sold the same amount of beer every day, whether it was sunny or snowy, or about a sausage seller who used five times as many forks as sausages officially sold.
However, just a receipt with the inscription “interim invoice” is not necessarily a fraud. As reported by the Münster city center tax office, there are various methods of manipulating taxes, often incomprehensibly. This can take the form of cancellations early in the morning, with the help of so-called zappers, extinguishers, but also in countless other variants. Many things are no longer understandable at the end of a shift. However, catering establishments are not directly at risk because of the tax fraud check. Statistics from the Federal Ministry of Finance show that an inspector only appears in small restaurants every 100 years. In addition, the inspectors must announce in advance which period will be inspected, unless there is a concrete suspicion of a criminal offense.
Legal consequences for customers
But what happens if a private individual pays the manipulated invoice? “Private individuals are not obliged to report criminal offenses that have already occurred. Even those who learn of a planned criminal offense do not have to inform the investigating authorities – unless it is a question of certain, particularly serious offenses such as murder or robbery. Only then is it obligatory The suspicion of tax evasion is not one of them. Here, guests of a restaurant have nothing to fear,” explains Christian Solmecke, lawyer and partner of the Cologne media law firm “Wilde Beuger Solmecke” in the newspaper Express. Nevertheless, customers can report their suspicions to the responsible tax authority, which will then investigate the complaint.
Editorial office finanzen.net
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