Earnings from tax audits have dropped from one billion euros to 120 million euros, according to figures from the Finance Department, quoted on Monday in Het Laatste Nieuws daily. The Belgian Government has been cutting back on audits in order to save on staff costs and, as a result, it has been losing tax revenue, according to the sector’s unions. In four years, the number of audits shrank from 60,000 to 13,000.
The Finance Department insists that the quality of the audits is more important than their number. The unions, on the other hand, feel that effectiveness has not increased. “We do not have time to conduct in-depth audits,” said Marc Nijs of the Christian trade union federation, ACV.
The Brussels Times
