You cannot get into business without accepting that you have entered a competitive space. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that all players operate within the law.
Legally mandated periodic regulatory reporting and the knowledge that an external audit by an empowered body can occur at any time should be enough to ensure that no one cheats. Unfortunately, cheating happens. Even the clearly communicated punishments for doing so never seem to be sufficient to deter bad behaviour.
Legally, you must fail two tests. They are, and to reinforce how dim a view is taken of this, I am using the legal Latin terms, mens rea and actus reus (meaning: guilty mind and guilty act). You need to think about committing an offence and then act on that thought.
So far, we are talking about malfeasance being uncovered by a non-trading external body. Today, in the light of a recently issued Federal Tax Authority (FTA) guide, I wish to address the mechanism in place for all other actors that might likewise reveal potential illegal activity. I say potential because tax law is very complex in parts, and it is not impossible that someone might misunderstand a situation or treatment they have witnessed, and then innocently report it.
Issued in December 2024, a whistleblower programme for tax violations and evasion represents the first detailed approach to the issue.
I addressed this topic in a more general way in an article published by The National on April 29, 2017, as VAT was being launched....
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