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VAT Fraud Costs Billions, Offers “Limitless” Money Laundering Potential, FATF Report Finds
By Brian Monroe
printCriminals in Europe and other countries are increasingly turning to value-added tax (VAT) carousel fraud to launder large amounts of money with "little risk of prosecution," according to a Financial Action Task Force report released at the end of March. The fraud exploits the VAT system used by European Union member states and some non-European nations that adds a tax of between 15 percent and 25 percent to an item based on the value added to it by manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers as the item moves up the supply chain. To perpetrate carousel fraud, a group of criminals obtain VAT...
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