Operation ‘Piélago’

 

• The actions have had the participation of 131 officials from Inspection, computer audit units and Customs Surveillance
• The AEAT team, deployed in the Canary Islands, Catalonia, Galicia, Murcia and Valencia, has been joined in a coordinated action by the Provincial Treasuries of Guipúzcoa and Vizcaya in the Basque Country
• Previous fiscal controls in the sector have led to the conclusion that a 'B' channel of economic activity could be extended, from the shipowner to the fish retailer.
• The purpose of the deployed device is to ensure the fiscal traceability of operations, based on the actual unloading volumes and auction prices, and the identity of the shipowners and wholesalers participating in the auctions.

 

November 18, 2016.- The Tax Agency yesterday began an operation against black market sales in the wholesale sector of fresh fish. Within the framework of this operation, called 'Piélago', 21 fish markets were entered and searched in five Autonomous Communities (Canary Islands, Catalonia, Galicia, Murcia and Valencia). The action involves the start of inspection actions both on the entities managing the fish markets themselves, as well as on shipowners and fish wholesalers, so that the device deployed by the Agency affects a total of 37 entities (3 in the Canary Islands, 12 in Catalonia, 14 in Galicia, 2 in Murcia and 6 in the Valencian Community). In addition, the Regional Treasuries of Guipúzcoa and Vizcaya have coordinated their actions with the Tax Agency, adding to the 'Piélago' operation checks in five fish markets in the Basque Country.

The proceedings have been initiated by the Tax Inspection of the Tax Agency in the markets and in the premises and headquarters of the wholesale and shipowner companies in order to directly access the real accounting or auxiliary documentation and information, including the computer systems for processing the information. Since these are administrative actions, they fall within the competence of the inspectors and do not involve arrests.

The preliminary investigations that led to Operation Piélago have their origin in the fiscal controls that the Tax Agency has been carrying out in relation to fish markets in various parts of Spain, and especially in the north and northeast of Spain.

As a result of these actions, including those carried out last year within the framework of Operation White in Catalonia, the Agency detected not only the existence of various irregularities that resulted in a decrease in the declared tax bases and tax revenues, but also the existence of a parallel channel of economic activity in the black, from the shipowner to the fish retailer, causing significant damage to the Treasury.

 

A circuit of submerged activity

The entry procedures carried out yesterday are aimed at detecting the reality of three aspects of the economic activity of the wholesale fish sector that are crucial in determining the tax bases: the species caught (which determines the value of the catch), the kilos landed and the prices that the fish reaches at the market. These factors are essential both for determining the profits of the shipowners and for carrying out cross-control of the settlers –the sellers at the fish markets– and the wholesalers.

In this way, these entry and registration actions are intended to obtain direct information on the reality of fresh fish sales in fish markets. To this end, in addition to the mandatory documentation and books of the fish markets, records held by the Tax Administration from the Autonomous Communities and Port Authorities have been reviewed, as well as the conclusions of previous checks.

The purpose of the deployed device is to ensure the fiscal traceability of economic operations in the wholesale fish sector, accessing the reality of the kilos unloaded by the vessels, also determining the real auction price at the fish market and obtaining information on the shipowners who have unloaded and the wholesalers who have had access to the auctions and have acquired the fish. The aim of all this is to bring to light a presumed partially submerged activity that was already evident in previous inspection actions.

In addition to the detection and subsequent regularisation of tax fraud that eventually comes to light, both this and previous sector-specific actions carried out in recent years by the Tax Agency at a national level also aim to convey a dissuasive message to the sectors involved in these practices, so that, where appropriate, they redirect their actions towards the correct payment of their tax obligations. As in previous operations, and depending on the tax behaviour shown, the verification of other companies in the same sector in the future is not ruled out.
 
Operation 'Piélago' has been coordinated by the Tax and Financial Inspection Department of the Tax Agency, and developed by the Inspection Services of the Special Delegations, within the framework of the Plan for Control of the Black Economy that the Agency has been developing. 96 officials from the AEAT Inspection Department, including its Computer Audit Units, and 35 officials from the Tax Agency's Customs Surveillance Department, participated in the entry and registration operation carried out yesterday, in coordination with officials from the Provincial Councils of Guipúzcoa and Vizcaya, who carried out the operations in the Basque Country.