Operation "Convoy"

• More than 300 Agency officials have visited 62 premises after discovering a network of fraudulent sales with false invoices and simulated operations

• The operation has led to the start of inspection actions in relation to 48 companies and 21 related individuals.

• The actions are based on previous investigations that have made it possible to identify the fraud mechanisms used by certain taxpayers.                             

July 10, 2024.- The Tax Agency has today launched a coordinated operation in eight autonomous communities against tax fraud in the wooden pallet sales sector. The operation, called 'Convoy', involves the start of inspections of 48 companies and 21 related individuals (partners, directors and family members), through the appearance of more than 300 Agency officials in 62 premises.

The deployed device reaches premises located in Andalusia (14), Aragon (1), Castilla-La Mancha (8), Castilla y León (1), Catalonia (5), Galicia (1), Madrid (20), and the Valencian Community (12).

Operation 'Convoy' has been coordinated by the Inspection Department of the Tax Agency, with the participation of more than 230 officials from the Inspection Area, including staff from the Computer Audit Units, and more than 80 officials from the Customs Surveillance Service, as well as with the support of police officers.

Pallets are a highly sought-after logistical material for industrial and commercial activity; However, in recent years there has been a shortage of this material, causing supply problems worldwide. This led to a rise in prices, which provided an incentive to commit tax fraud, with structures that have been maintained even despite the recent drop in pallet prices.

As in other European countries, the Agency detected in Spain the existence of elaborate fraud schemes in the pallet sales sector, which led to setting this sector as the target of this operation.

Hidden forms of supplying goods

In previous investigations, the Inspection Department of the Tax Agency detected the existence of undeclared sales by certain taxpayers selling pallets.

The progress of these investigations led to the discovery of a network of fraudulent sales involving operations between various companies throughout the country, and allowed us to discover the hidden methods of supplying merchandise.

This operation therefore focuses not only on those operators who buy goods 'under the table' and use false invoices to justify these purchases, but also on those operators who make undeclared sales and who have previously supplied themselves with pallets in a hidden manner.

External signs of wealth

Within the group of companies selected as the target of this operation, a study has also been carried out on the partners who may present external signs of wealth not justified by the declared activities. This could be due to an emergence of hidden sales by the entity that were materializing in increases in the equity of the partners.

Personifications, a tool to combat tax fraud

By visiting the selected premises, the Agency has been able to access information of vital importance for carrying out the inspection work (actual documentation and accounting or auxiliary information, including computer systems for processing information).

The inspections, which will continue to be carried out in the coming months following the initial collection of evidence, will allow the documentation obtained to be analysed in order to regularise all the non-compliances detected.

The Guidelines of the AEAT Control Plan for 2024 emphasize the need to maintain presence in those sectors and business models where there is a high risk of the existence of an underground economy, with special attention to the intensive use of cash. These Guidelines highlight that control actions will also be carried out on those taxpayers who declare an irregular or anomalous evolution of the amount of their stock that is inconsistent with their declared activity, and an indication of the possible existence of hidden sales.

Sectoral macro-operations

Operation Convoy marks the 24th coordinated sectoral macro-operation carried out by the Agency in just over a decade. These actions, in addition to facilitating the detection and regularisation of tax fraud, make it possible to convey a dissuasive message to the groups involved in these practices, which have an impact on public coffers and seriously distort competition in the affected sector itself.