Massive tax evasion schemes by recruitment agencies revealed

The Federal Tax Service (FTS) has revealed large-scale violations of legislation in the field of recruitment, revealing tax evasion schemes worth billions of rubles.

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According to the arbitration courts, recruitment agencies working with large retail chains, logistics and industrial companies used "technical companies" in their calculations to obtain unjustified VAT deductions.

Thus, after an on-site inspection of the Federal Tax Service in April 2024, the recruitment agency Leader of Groups was charged more than 159 million rubles and fined 38.5 million rubles. The company provided movers, cashiers, cleaners and other personnel to Detsky Mir, Thunder, Agrotorg, Perekrestok trading house, MVM, Nestle Russia, Lenta, Sportmaster and others, the court decision notes.

Similar charges were made by the Federal Tax Service to the recruitment agency Euro Pro, which selected personnel for large industrial enterprises — United Wagon Company (UWC), Tikhvin Wagon Building Plant (TVSZ JSC), Tikhvinspetsmash JSC, Tikhvinkhimmash JSC, Neva-Metal JSC, Severstal LLC.-Vtorchermet" and others. According to the court's decision, the organization did not pay VAT in the amount of more than 744 million rubles. 18 "technical" firms were used to generate tax deductions.

According to the analytical agency Risk Control, 28 court decisions have already been issued in these cases since 2024. The total amount of additional charges, including fines and penalties, exceeded 3.389 billion rubles.

"Recruitment agencies offer services for the rapid provision of necessary personnel. They supply shift workers, security guards, cashiers, loaders, workers for logistics points and warehouses, as well as unskilled employees for industrial enterprises," Alexey Kozhevnikov, head of the Risk Control analytical agency, told Izvestia.

Large organizations do often turn to private recruitment agencies, and for good reason.: This saves time and provides access to a wide base of candidates, the Severstal press service told Izvestia.

Read more in the exclusive Izvestia article:

HR Department: massive tax evasion schemes by recruitment agencies revealed