ELECTRONIC SALES SUPPRESSION: A THREAT TO TAX REVENUES

2 – TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of contents
Executive Summary ........................................................................................................... 3
Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 5
Background .......................................................................................................................... 5
Other related work ............................................................................................................... 6
Estimates of tax loss and other fraud ................................................................................... 6
Point of Sales Systems ....................................................................................................... 9
POS systems ........................................................................................................................ 9
Auditing POS systems– the legal framework ...................................................................... 9
Tax audit requirements ...................................................................................................... 10
POS system risks ............................................................................................................... 11
Electronic Sales Suppression Techniques ...................................................................... 13
Misuse of functions within the ECR/POS software........................................................... 14
Phantomware ..................................................................................................................... 14
Zappers .............................................................................................................................. 15
Summary of techniques ..................................................................................................... 16
Detection Strategies ......................................................................................................... 17
Financial audit ................................................................................................................... 17
E-Audit .............................................................................................................................. 18
Computer forensic investigation ........................................................................................ 18
Detecting traces ................................................................................................................. 18
Criminal investigation techniques ..................................................................................... 18
Investigating traces ............................................................................................................ 19
Seizing digital sources ....................................................................................................... 20
Analysis of digital information .......................................................................................... 20
Government Responses ................................................................................................... 23
Strategic approach ............................................................................................................. 23
Strengthen compliance ...................................................................................................... 24
Raise awareness ................................................................................................................. 26
Audit and investigation ...................................................................................................... 28
Sources of intelligence ....................................................................................................... 31
Fiscal tills and certified POS systems ................................................................................ 32
Conclusions ...................................................................................................................... 35
Recommendations ............................................................................................................. 35
Annex: Fiscal Tills and Certified POS systems ............................................................. 37
Fiscal Tills ......................................................................................................................... 37
Certified POS systems ....................................................................................................... 38
ELECTRONIC SALES SUPPRESSION: A THREAT TO TAX REVENUES © OECD 2013