Neste: Fuel tax fraud will cost Estonia EUR 50 mln this year

Photo: Liis Treimann / Postimees

The inflow of fuel-related tax revenues in Estonia has considerably decreased since the beginning of the year and if things go on like that the Estonian state will lose 30 million euros through VAT fraud and another 20 million euros through excise duty fraud this year, Neste says.

The director general of Neste's Estonian operation, Ivar Kohv, believes that tax evasion and fraud is a very serious problem on the Estonian fuel market. "Since the beginning of the year fuel market tax inflow has been on a clear downtrend. In April of this year receipts of the value-added tax on fuel were nearly 30 percent smaller than at the same time last year while there haven't been any big changes in retail sales volumes," he said.

«If the present situation goes on the Estonian state will lose 30 million euros through VAT evasion and another 20 million euros through excise duty fraud -- this means 50 million euros of lost tax revenue in all,» Kohv said.

In his words, market players have in recent months made several proposals on how to improve the situation.