The ever-hungry tax office has excelled even its own record for the silliest seizure as its trained officers pounced on a restaurant and took legal charge over four cakes.
The cakes were expertly valued at 30 cents each by the fully trained tax staff as they took a small but important bite out of the restaurant’s €92,000 debt.
The business bank account was frozen and the cakes impounded despite Treasury’s rules stating that it is not sensible at all to seize perishable goods beacause they...perish.
The debt was estimated after an inspection by tax officers who determined that the business owed corporation tax and VAT of €92,000.
Their decision swiftly was challenged in court by the restaurateur who was given a guarantee that there would be no seizures of his assets, perishable or otherwise, while the judge pondered the validity of the Finanças case.
The nabbing of four cakes came about because they were listed on the restaurant’s stock return, an electronic procedure that has been obligatory since July 2013.
The data accessed by Finanças staff showed four cake were in stock, so four cakes were duly seized and in theory will be auctioned off to the highest bidder depending on whether the judge finds for the state or not.
This case of fiscal bullying echoes the rank stupidity of the tax authorities in Oporto which thought it a sensible plan to seize goods donated from a supermarket to a charity that fed the poor. The charity director owed money to the motorway toll company.
Finanças in Oporto soon changed their tune when the press got hold of the story.
See also:
http://www.algarvedailynews.com/news/4937-tax-office-seizes-food-destined-for-the-poor
