Last year, the General Directorate of Customs (DGA) carried out investigations that allowed it to identify and report more than 2.800 abusive maneuvers in foreign trade operations.
In a statement, the organization detailed that "The irregularities detected exceed 330 million dollars, in the form of over-invoicing of imports and under-invoicing of exports..
"We implement intelligent control of foreign trade operations to prevent illegal maneuvers, protect the national industry, employment and promote exports and the generation of added value," said the Director General of Customs, Silvia Traverso.
"The maneuvers reported by the DGA not only erode tax revenues but also increase tensions on the foreign exchange market. The products involved include raw materials, vehicles and motorcycles, among others," the official report said.
The irregularities were detected by an area of the DGA that, after being dismantled during the previous government, was reestablished to strengthen controls on over- and under-invoicing in foreign trade.
Imports and exports
Cross-checks of information carried out by the DGA detected 2.812 cases of attempts to export products below their value or import goods above their price.
"These abusive maneuvers constitute a factor that increases tensions in the exchange market. On the one hand, given the smaller amount of foreign currency entering Argentina (in the case of under-invoicing of sales abroad) and, on the other (in the case of over-invoicing of imports), due to the attempt to access a larger amount of dollars at the official exchange rate," said the customs agency.
According to DGA data, last year there were 1.203 cases of overbilling in imports totaling US$98,76 million.
In turn, in exports the total number of cases reached 1609 for an amount of US$ 238,42 million of under-invoicing.
These cases are the ones that ended with legal complaints filed by Customs or with fines that the companies involved must pay to regularize their situation.
Source: Telam
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