Undeclared income at 53 bln liras in 2013

ANTALYA

Close scrutiny by the Finance Ministry has revealed that Turkish citizens failed to declare around 53.7 billion Turkish Liras’ worth of income to the state in 2013, causing around 8.5 billion liras in tax losses for the public budget.

The Tax Audition Board within the Finance Ministry reviewed more than 71,300 taxpayers in 2013, raising the amount of tax inspection by around four-and-a-half times compared to 2011.

The board audited almost 16,300 taxpayers in 2011 and 46,850 in 2012.

After determining that 53.7 billion liras in income had been kept concealed from the state, inspectors imposed 8.561 billion liras in tax and 19 billion liras in penalties on the evaders.

As of last year, the Finance Ministry and the police have toughened their battle against income loss due to smuggling and have been conducting more efficient investigations to uncover undeclared tax debts.