Financial control of illegal employment by the Federal Customs Administration

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The financial control of undeclared work ( FKS ) is a working unit of the German customs with a fixed personnel requirement at the local level of approx. 8,408 AK . By 2029, an increase in staff requirements at the local level by around 4,838 AK is planned, covered by the addition of new jobs.

task

The main task of the VCS is to combat undeclared work and illegal employment . The legal basis results primarily from the Act to Combat Undeclared Work and Illegal Employment (Schwarzarbeitsbekämpfungsgesetz - SchwarzArbG).

According to Section 2 Paragraph 1 Sentence 1 SchwarzArbG, the FKS examines compliance with social security regulations, namely whether

  • the social security reporting obligations according to § 28a SGB IV are fulfilled,
  • the illegal receipt of social benefits,
  • the information provided by the employer, which is relevant for employment promotion benefits, has been correctly certified,
  • Foreigners are employed illegally,
  • Working conditions in accordance with the Posted Workers Act and the Minimum Labor Conditions Act are observed.

FKS is only authorized to carry out tax audits to a limited extent in accordance with Section 2 (1) sentence 2 of the SchwarzArbG. The FKS is only authorized to examine insofar as this is necessary in order to inform the state tax authorities within the framework of Section 6 (1) SchwarzArbG. The competent state tax authorities are responsible for checking whether tax obligations have been fulfilled.

In Bavaria , Baden-Wuerttemberg , Brandenburg , Schleswig-Holstein , Saxony , Hesse and Saarland , the customs enforcement officers (ZVB) who are permitted to use firearms when applying direct coercion also have urgent police responsibility. This means that in the event of a significant current danger or for purposes of criminal prosecution outside of customs jurisdiction, all necessary police measures can be taken if the otherwise competent authority cannot be on site in good time.

In order to fulfill its task according to the Anti-Illicit Work Act, the FKS has access to various information systems such as B .:

In addition, as part of their official duties, the ZVB receive, on request, information from tax files of the tax offices (application decree for § 31a of the Tax Code) and from service files of the Federal Employment Agency .

For the tasks according to the Anti-Illicit Work Act, the ZVB have the rights and obligations like officers of the police service according to the Code of Criminal Procedure and the status of investigators of the public prosecutor's office . In contrast to tax and customs investigators (Section 404 of the Fiscal Code), the rights and obligations as investigators for the undeclared work inspectors at customs are limited to the tasks directly related to combating undeclared work (Art. 14 SchwarzArbG).

In the context of preliminary investigations , they work closely with the public prosecutor , the police and the federal police . The main customs office has the status of administrative authority according to the Law on Administrative Offenses (OWiG) for administrative offenses - offenses according to the Act to Combat Undeclared Work, according to the Posted Workers Act, according to the Temporary Employment Act and partly also according to Book III of the Social Code .

In order to do justice to, among other things, the fight against organized crime in the form of illegal employment of foreigners , the fight against the smuggling of foreigners into German territory, the exploitation of labor and ultimately also the prosecution of unlawfully received benefits from social welfare institutions, the customs officers and employees attend training courses.

The customs officers of the financial control of undeclared work are prepared for their varied tasks in several weeks of training courses.

construction

Sleeve badges on the former green uniform

Responsible for the technical coordination of the VCS is the General Customs Directorate Directorate VII - Financial Control of Undeclared Work with its headquarters in Cologne . Subject-specific subordinate are subject areas E and F - subject areas 1 of the 41 main customs offices with VCS subject areas. Section E is responsible for examinations, investigations and services that support these investigations, and Section F - Section 1 or the relevant public prosecutor's office is responsible for punishing any violations found.

Punishment

Section F - Section 1 is responsible for the prosecution of administrative offenses. The suspicion of criminal offenses occurs as a "small public prosecutor's office" in coordination with the originally responsible public prosecutor's office. (see also Law against Illegal Employment and Abuse of Social Benefits ).

Exams and investigations

About 80% of the VCS employees are employed in subject area E. The main tasks include examining employers, prevention, processing information such as B. from the population or from social security agencies and the investigation of violations.

Digital forensics

Customs officers and employees are also employed in the examinations and investigations work area, who specialize in securing and subsequently evaluating confiscated IT technology (in particular PCs, notebooks, USB sticks). The backup and subsequent evaluation of such storage media is of great importance in criminal proceedings, because appropriate IT technology can be expected in almost every household. Evidence-relevant data can be found on company computers or company servers. The analysis of seized or confiscated cell phones (smartphones and tablets) is also carried out. The special training is carried out centrally in the education and science center of the Federal Customs Administration in Sigmaringen and Lehnin as well as Münster.

Asset skimming measures VAM

Specially trained investigators work in this work area of ​​subject area E, who track down and confiscate illegally obtained assets of the accused in the course of the criminal proceedings in order to ensure the state's claim to punishment.

Prevention

Officials and employees, who usually appear to citizens as uniformed customs officers and are on the move in patrol vehicles, perform so-called preventive activities. Depending on the occasion, it also happens that these can appear in civilian clothes. You will also work outside of normal office hours or on weekends.

The task is to strengthen the presence of the financial control of undeclared work, as well as to create an awareness of injustice among the population with regard to undeclared work and illegal employment. In addition, notices or notifications regarding suspected undeclared work and illegal employment are checked on site. The examinations range from the recording of the persons encountered at the workplace with detailed questioning about their employment relationship to the review of the business documents of the respective employer.

Arming the ZVB of the FKS

The officials in the subject areas E - examinations / investigations / prevention are due to their risk situation in the exercise of their official business or official tasks such. B.

  • Questioning of a suspect / victim
  • Enforcement of a search warrant
  • Arrests
  • Execution of an arrest warrant

armed. The service weapon is the HK P30 V6 Zoll (manufacturer Heckler & Koch ). In addition, the officers are equipped with an irritant spray device to prevent attacks and the like. Ä. to be able to fend off appropriately within the framework of the statutory provisions.

Other means of action are handcuffs and the use of the BOS digital radio network via the digital radio control centers of the customs administration.

The punishment work area was not armed because the tasks are generally performed in the office.

Reporting

Reports of undeclared work and illegal employment can be submitted to any customs office. The locally responsible customs office can be found on the customs administration's internet portal . The General Customs Directorate Directorate VII - Financial Control of Undeclared Work also receives information and forwards it to the locally responsible HZA.

Focus exams

So-called "focus tests" take place several times a year. In addition to preventive aspects, such as in the entire area of ​​VCS, the aim of these tests is a. the detection of illegal employment and undeclared work. The inspection actions take place not only nationwide, but also regionally or state-of-the-art depending on the risk assessment.

statistics

On January 1, 2004, the legislature intensified the fight against illegal employment through the Anti- Illicit Employment Act and the amendment to Section 266a of the Criminal Code, which made the offense of withholding and misappropriating wages from employee shares and employer shares for social security purposes a punishable offense. In addition, the bundling of responsibilities (until December 31, 2003 they were part of the labor market inspections of the Federal Employment Agency and Customs) made more staff available to German customs. Taking these aspects into account, the enormous increase in examinations from the year 2004 onwards can also be explained, because the numbers of the labor market inspections at the Federal Labor Office are not taken into account and can no longer be determined.

Statistical data on the fight against undeclared work and illegal employment

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Personal verification at the workplace 92,000 109,000 77,380 79,269 264,500 423.175 477.035 481.996 472,542 510.425 524.015 543.120 523.340 512,763 360.345
Examination of employers 35,000 18,500 26,026 32,572 104,965 83,258 62,256 46,058 51,600 65,756 67,680 65,955 64.001 63.014 43,637 40,374 52.209 53,491 54,733
Completion of criminal investigations 7,700 9,200 8,739 9,837 56,900 91,820 117,441 106,960 104.003 115,980 112,474 105,680 94,962 100,763 104,778 107.080 107.941 108,807 115,958
Conclusion of investigative proceedings for administrative offenses 3,300 2,800 1,734 1,233 49,926 54,087 72,969 63.274 61,531 70,146 76,367 62,175 53,993 53.007 47,280 45,783 48,828 52,579 57,248
- in € million - -
Sum of the fines 8.0 10.3 5.3 5.1 32.8 46.4 51.9 56.7 55.3 44.0 45.2 41.3 44.7 46.7 43.4 48.7 64.4 49.3 57.4
Value of the assets secured for asset recovery 9.6 21.3 21.6 34.0 43.1
Amount of damage in the context of criminal and regulatory fines investigations 124.0 179.7 191.2 348.1 475.6 603.6 561.8 549.7 624.6 710.5 660.5 751.9 777.1 795.4 818.5 812.7 967.3 834.8 755.4
Sum of the fines (including compensation) 2.2 2.5 2.9 3.6 8.9 19.8 25.4 33.9 33.7 29.8 30.6 27.2 26.1 28.2 28.8 34.1 31.6 33.4 36.6
- in years -
Sum of the prison sentences obtained 96 200 227 305 472 1,123 1,398 1,556 1,813 1,981 2.110 2,082 1.927 1.917 1,789 1,731 1,648 1,715 1,891

Nationwide controls of customs officials and employees, such as in amusement arcades, on large construction sites, in road haulage, courier, express and parcel services, in gardening and landscaping companies as well as at Christmas markets and at companies in the taxi industry, resulted in indications at an average of every sixth check on moonlighting or illegal employment.

literature

  • Bernd Josef Fehn: Financial control of illegal work. Checking and investigating in accordance with the Anti-Illicit Work Act. Bundesanzeiger-Verlag, Cologne 2006, ISBN 3-89817-452-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Combating undeclared work and illegal employment. In: Zoll.de. Federal Ministry of Finance, archived from the original on August 23, 2010 ; Retrieved March 5, 2011 .
  2. ^ The Federal Finance Administration - Annual Statistics 2010. Federal Ministry of Finance, archived from the original on May 13, 2014 ; accessed on May 13, 2014 .
  3. ^ The Federal Finance Administration - 2011 annual statistics. Federal Ministry of Finance, archived from the original on May 13, 2014 ; accessed on May 13, 2014 .
  4. ^ The Federal Finance Administration - annual statistics 2012. Federal Ministry of Finance, archived from the original on May 13, 2014 ; accessed on May 13, 2014 .
  5. ^ The Federal Finance Administration - 2013 annual statistics. Federal Ministry of Finance, archived from the original on May 13, 2014 ; accessed on May 13, 2014 .
  6. ^ The Customs Administration - Annual Statistics 2014. Federal Ministry of Finance, archived from the original on March 12, 2015 ; accessed on March 12, 2015 .
  7. ^ The Customs Administration - 2015 annual statistics. Federal Ministry of Finance, archived from the original on May 12, 2016 ; accessed on May 12, 2016 .
  8. ^ The Customs Administration - Annual Statistics 2016. Federal Ministry of Finance, archived from the original on April 11, 2017 ; Retrieved April 11, 2017 .
  9. ^ The Customs Administration - Annual Statistics 2017. Federal Ministry of Finance, archived from the original on April 23, 2018 ; accessed on April 23, 2018 .
  10. ^ Customs Online - Brochures - Annual Statistics 2018. Federal Ministry of Finance, archived from the original on March 26, 2019 ; accessed on March 26, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Customs Online - Brochures - Annual Statistics 2019. Federal Ministry of Finance, archived from the original on May 16, 2019 ; accessed on May 16, 2019 .