International tax authorities target sales tax scammers

The heads of tax authorities in five countries, including the U.S. and the U.K., met this week to discuss their efforts to crack down on companies using electronic sales suppression software to evade sales and value-added taxes.

The group of five joint chiefs, known as the J5, has been holding regular meetings in recent years to coordinate their efforts across borders to combat tax evasion in various areas, including cryptocurrency and financial technology. This week, the focus was on the global banking sector as part of a Global Financial Institutions Summit in New York. They include the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation unit, as well as tax authorities in the U.K., Canada, Australia and the Netherlands. 

“Our commitment to each other has never been stronger, demonstrated by us sitting here together, and I’m incredibly impressed by the amount of operational work that’s been going on,” said IRS CI chief Jim Lee during a press conference Friday. 

J5 press conference with (left to right) Niels Obbink of the Dutch Fiscal Intelligence and Investigation Service, Simon York of His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs in the U.K., Jim Lee of IRS Criminal Investigation, John Ford of the Australian Taxation Office, and Eric Ferron of the Canada Revenue Agency.

“What I can share with you today is news of coordinated enforcement action that’s been taken in the U.K., the U.S., and in Australian tax agencies,” said Simon York, director of His Majesty’s Revenue and…

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