Luxury yacht owners will be subjected to meticulous investigation by the National Revenue Agency (NRA). More than 230 yachts will be targeted, an agency media statement said.
 
The measures are part of the agency’s scheme to boost tax collection and to resist and neutralise widespread tax evasion and fraud, it said.
 
A list of names of yachts and sail boat owners has been submitted by the Sea Administration, a branch within the Ministry of Transport, following an official enquiry by NRA.
 
Tax officials will investigate whether the yachts were purchased legitimately, and whether the declared income of their owners corresponds with their assets.
 
Should the agency find any discrepancies between the declared income and actual income, any irregularities in the documentation or any illegitimate transactions, the owners of the yachts "will be subjected to severe financial sanctions".
 
NRA will also intensify its check-ups and do stricter audits between borrowers and lenders, in order to augment tax collection and make the process more efficient. According to data released by NRA, in the past five years debts accumulated amongst individuals has accumulated to 2.7 billion leva "and a substantial proportion of those debts are actually fictitious".
 
A total of 52 individuals have been identified "as having declared to have lent sums worth millions of leva to other individuals". NRA will investigate the property of the aforementioned lenders, their declared income, whether the source of the income was legitimate and if all other affiliated documentation is in order.
 
The agency will oversee if there is any indication that the debts in question are being paid, if those debts are attached to private individuals or firms, and if those firms are not in turn owned by the borrowers themselves.
 
The NRA analysis says that in 2006 and 2007, 74 million leva went undeclared, of which 39 million leva are attributed solely to property lenders from Sofia. NRA will soon mount another operation, the report says, where property lenders will also be subjected to thorough investigation.