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Two Finnish vendors suspected of tax fraud linking to online alcohol trade

Xinhua, January 16, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Finnish Customs announced on Friday that it has investigated an online alcohol and cigarette trafficking, and two Finnish vendors were suspected of transmitting alcohol from Estonia to Finland with unpaid taxes amounting to 350,000 euros (about 381,500 U.S. dollars).

The online shop named Viinakauppa.eu is a company registered in Estonia. The responsible persons are two Finnish men.

Since last summer, the online shop's business has expanded rapidly through importing alcohol from Estonia to Finland. Its customers have totaled more than 1,500 in Finland. The largest single order was worth more than 7,000 euros, said the Customs.

The preliminary investigation showed that the company has not paid taxes either in Finland or in Estonia. The two suspects have been detained on suspicion of aggravated tax fraud.

Last week, officials of the Finnish Customs told media that Finland is set to strengthen alcohol taxation on online businesses. The move is expected to collect millions of euros in unpaid alcohol taxes from online vendors in other EU states. (1 euro = 1.09 U.S. dollars) Endit