Klingbeil announces harder course against undeclared work and tax fraud!

Klingbeil announces harder course against undeclared work and tax fraud!

Hamburg, Deutschland - Federal Minister of Finance Lars Klingbeil (SPD) has announced a comprehensive offensive to combat undeclared work and tax fraud in Germany. Klingbeil criticized the former finance minister Christian Lindner for his lack of ambitions in this area and asked to use the customs officials more efficiently. "I want to send my customs officials off, there is enough to look," said the minister in a current statement. The combating of these practices is necessary because the state loses income in billions of bills annually.

Against the background of these plans, the 2024 annual balance sheet of customs will be presented in Hamburg on Tuesday. Klingbeil, who has only been in office for three weeks, acknowledges that the problem of undeclared work and illegal employment has existed for many years. All the more he emphasizes the need for increased controls and measures against these forms of economic exploitation.

Current figures for undeclared work

Financial control undeclared work (FKS) published impressive statistics on their investigations in 2023. A total of over 101,000 investigations were initiated nationwide due to crimes, which underlines the urgency of this challenge. Compared to 2022, this is a easily measurable decline (2022: 111.501) Zoll.de reports .

The number of administrative offenses procedures, which were around 49,000 in 2023, is particularly worrying, which corresponds to about the previous year. The number of exams of employers was around 42,600. As part of these controls, more than 4,200 proceedings for violations of minimum deflection regulations were also initiated, an increase compared to previous years Federal Finance Ministry.de leads from .

Focus of the investigation

The tests by the FKS focus on various industries, in particular on the construction industry, the hotel and catering industry as well as building cleaning and transport and logistics services. The determined prison sentences added up to almost 990 years last year, in which the seriousness of undeclared work becomes clear. The total amount of damage from these investigations was around 615 million euros, which resulted from non -paid social security contributions and taxes as well as other violations.

An important part of combating undeclared work is the Black Working Act (SchwarzarbG), which was adapted in 2019. This law ensures that employers are obliged to pay correct social security contributions and wage taxes and set punishments in the event of violations. In addition, organized forms of undeclared work are increasingly carried out, which are increasingly accepting international dimensions.

In summary, it can be stated that the fight against undeclared work and tax fraud in Germany becomes one of the priority tasks of the federal government under Klingbeil. A coordinated approach is required to minimize both the economic damage and to significantly improve the working conditions of the employees in the industries concerned.