Revenue Concealment and «Enveloped» Salary Payments Identified in a Belarusian Regional Real Estate Agency

Illegal activities of a real estate agency in one of the regional centers of the Republic of Belarus have been identified and suppressed by the regional office of the Financial Investigation Department of the State Control Committee.

It has been established that, at the instruction of the agency’s director, payments from clients for services related to the purchase and sale of real estate were accepted without the issuance of receipts and were not reflected in the agency’s accounting records.

In addition, a number of concluded agreements with individuals for real estate services were not registered, while some contracts were formally terminated after registration, although services continued to be provided under them.

Through such manipulations, the agency concealed cash revenue actually received, which was subsequently used, among other purposes, for the payment of «enveloped» wages to employees.

The damage caused to the state in the form of unpaid taxes and insurance contributions amounted to almost 300 thousand belarusian rubles (fully compensated).

A criminal case has been initiated against the director of the real estate agency on the grounds of large-scale tax evasion.