Economic crime report 2004 - Ekobrottsmyndigheten

Intelligence Operations of Tax Crime Units
Tax crime units now conduct intelligence operations aimed at gathering,
processing and analyzing information to establish whether criminal
activities have been or may be carried out. The objective is to compile
data for decisions on pretrial investigations or other measures to prevent,
foil or detect illegalities. The operations focus on organized, felonious or
otherwise serious tax crime.
Tax crime units do not currently enjoy direct access to the tax rolls, which
would be a cornerstone in pursuing effective intelligence activities. Intelligence
and fiscal operations share information in accordance with the
Secrets Act.
Less than 10% of human resources, or approximately 15 labour years, are
assigned to intelligence. Special-focus nationwide task forces do some of
the work. There is presently one for intelligence registers, one for special
investigations and one for IT support. The idea is for each task force to
spearhead progress in its particular area for the eventual benefit of all tax
crime units.
Some of the intelligence activities are conducted in close cooperation
with other agencies that combat economic crime. That is particularly
the case during special investigations that zero in on organized crime,
or on groups of people in whom the agencies share a common interest.
Though limited, the results of such investigations have been encouraging
thus far.
4.2 TAX SUPERVISION
With the exception of a slight increase for joint stock companies, the
number of active entries in the register of the Swedish Companies Registration
Office declined in 2002-03 for all forms of business entity. But
there was no significant change in absolute terms. The total number of
active companies decreased by 8,413 from 2002 to 2003.
SKV noted more registrations for all forms of business entity in 2001-03.
The increases are not sizable and have been steady since 1999. The statistics
on registered companies do not indicate any significant changes in the
basic SKV register, either in percentage or absolute terms. Given private
sector trends in both Sweden and around the world during the period, the
increase appears to be modest.
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