Value Added Tax Evasion and Illegal Recovery Cases in Lebanon

Abstract

In order to increase the treasury's revenues to satisfy the needs of increased expenditures in the public sector, the government is planning to raise the VAT rate two percentage points, an increase that will constitute an additional burden on the consumer's shoulder. A questionnaire is prepared and a qualitative analysis is made in order to detect the ways through which some taxpayers sneak to evade paying the VAT or to unjustly gain money through some illegal recover. To access the aforementioned cases it was imperative to conduct a fieldwork with officials in VAT collection and derivative processes. The two basic references in this respect are the customs authorities and the VAT directorate in the ministry of finance. Solutions are suggested in order to combat VAT evasion to limit as much as possible the waste in the treasury's revenues.