Operation ‘Piélago’

 

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

 

November 18, 2016.- Yesterday the Tax Agency began an operation against black sales in the wholesale sector of fresh fish sales. Within the framework of this operation, called 'Piélago', 21 fish markets in five Autonomous Communities (Canary Islands, Catalonia, Galicia, Murcia and the Valencian Community) have been entered and registered. The action involves the initiation of inspection actions both on the fish market management entities 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). Additionally, the Provincial Treasury of Guipúzcoa and Vizcaya have coordinated their actions with the Tax Agency, adding to the 'Piélago' operation verifications in five fish markets in the Basque Country.

The actions have been initiated by the presence of the Tax Inspection of the Tax Agency in the fish markets and in the premises and headquarters of the wholesale and shipowner companies in order to directly access the documentation and real accounting or auxiliary information, including the computer systems. of information processing. As these are administrative actions, they fall within the inspection powers and do not imply arrests.

The previous investigations that have led to the 'Piélago' operation have their origin in the fiscal controls that the Tax Agency has been carrying out in relation to fish markets in various parts of Spanish territory and especially in the north and northeast of Spain.

As a result of these actions, among which those carried out last year within the framework of operation 'White' in Catalonia stand out, 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 'B', from the shipowner to the fish retailer, causing significant damage to the Public Treasury.

 

A circuit of submerged activity

The entry actions carried out yesterday are intended to detect the reality of three aspects of the economic activity of the fish wholesale 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 in the market. These factors are essential both to determine the profits of the shipowners, and to carry out a cross control of the settlers – the sellers of the markets – and the wholesalers.

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

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

Along with the detection and subsequent regularization of tax fraud that finally emerges, both this and previous sectoral actions developed in recent years by the Tax Agency at the national level also aim to transmit a deterrent message to the sectors involved in these practices, so that, If applicable, redirect their actions towards the correct payment of their tax obligations. As in previous operations, and depending on the tax behavior they show, the verification of other companies in the same sector in the future is not ruled out.
 
The 'Piélago' operation has been coordinated by the Financial and Tax Inspection Department of the Tax Agency, and developed by the Inspection Services of the Special Delegations, within the framework of the Shadow Economy Control Plan that the Agency has been developing. In the entry and registration operation deployed yesterday, 96 officials from the AEAT Inspection participated, including its Computer Audit Units, as well as 35 Customs Surveillance officials from the Tax Agency, in coordination with officials from the Provincial Councils of Guipúzcoa. and Vizcaya, which have carried out actions in the Basque Country.