A man was arrested in the municipality of Gibara, in the province of Holguín, after defrauding about 70 people by pretending to be a collector for the National Office of Tax Administration (ONAT), according to the official pro-government Facebook profile Cazador-Cazado.
The scammer, identified as Antonio Diéguez, visited private businesses in the municipality pretending to be an authorized collection agent, and kept the money that taxpayers entrusted to him to make payments to the state institution.
The official source revealed that some of the victims even made payments through electronic gateways.
The fraud was discovered when several taxpayers began receiving debt notices from the ONAT, as the payments they believed they had made had not been registered.
Diéguez, known in his neighborhood by the nickname "El Tony," was described by his neighbors as someone "astute" and "sly."
Cazador-Cazado did not specify the amount of money defrauded from the public entity nor whether the money was fully recovered, but it did clarify that Diéguez is facing criminal proceedings for impersonating public functions, a crime penalized by Cuban law.
Authorities often warn the public about the importance of verifying the identity of collection agents and making payments directly through official channels to avoid falling for frauds similar to this one.
The National Tax Administration Office often faces problems with a growing number of clients who do not comply with their tax obligations.
In the first four months of 2024, the ONAT detected tax evasion exceeding 800 million pesos.
Among the irregularities detected are the outdated, manipulated, or altered books, records, sub-ledgers, and other forms, the cancellation of accounts receivable without documentary support, and the failure to declare the contracted workforce.
In the midst of so many complications, every now and then a rogue like Antonio Diéguez adds to the problems of the ONAT.
In mid-July, the Cuban government announced that it would implement a "preventive embargo" as an auxiliary measure to ensure compliance with tax obligations. The measure, as revealed, was designed to address tax evasion, a topic that has been of great interest in recent months.
While presenting a policy proposal to strengthen the Tax System during one of the sessions of the Commission on Economic Affairs of the National Assembly of People's Power (ANPP), Vladimir Regueiro Ale, head of the Ministry of Finance and Prices, reported on the expansion of the scope of the preventive embargo.
The proposed policy includes measures such as expanding the scope of the preventive embargo to ensure the collection of debts; extending the definitions regarding the responsibilities of personal income tax withholding agents, as well as defining a minimum amount as a requirement for processing refunds of undue or excess income.
On several occasions, the regime has taken measures against tax evaders.
In 2022, they restricted the exit abroad and entry into the country for taxpayers with "significant" debts to the treasury, as long as they do not settle their debts with the State. For this purpose, the ONAT signed an agreement with the Directorate of Identification, Immigration, and Foreigners (DIIE) of the Ministry of the Interior, supported by Law No.113 of the Tax System.
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