black money

Black money in the economy from illegal offenses achieved financial benefits or legally earned income , both intentionally of taxation by tax be withdrawn.

General

The word part "black" connotes the secret, the unauthorized, carried out under cover of darkness. Black money belongs to the shadow economy , whereby “money” can be either cash or book money . Cash is best suited for black money because the debtor and recipient remain anonymous when the cash is handed over . Reasons for the desired anonymity are criminal offenders who remain undetected by the law enforcement authorities through anonymity and their criminal offenses, violations of legal prohibitions , tax evasion of investment income or appreciation or other illegal legal acts . In the case of book money as black money, debtors and payees are registered with the credit institutions ; therefore, mailbox companies , identity theft , shadow banks or straw men have to be used to cover up, often in less regulated low-tax countries and tax havens .

Even legitimate income earned, if they are deliberately deprived of taxation to black money. The Bundesbank According to 2014 were in cafes , snack bars , pubs or fast food restaurants 94% of all revenues settled in cash. The sales were generated legally, but their non-taxation turns them into black money. Untaxed tips are also black money. The probability that black money will be implemented in the catering trade is therefore highest here.

Important sources

Black money comes from property crimes , in particular extortion ( Section 253 StGB ), stealing ( Section 259 StGB), fraud ( Section 263 StGB), breach of trust ( Section 266 StGB), abuse of check and credit cards ( Section 266b StGB) or gambling ( Section 284 StGB). Also, the theft of § 242 of the Criminal Code can be used as property crime lead to black money by receiving stolen property. Black money also results from drug trafficking ( § 29 BtMG ), red light district ( § 232 StGB), bribery payments , moonlighting ( § 266a StGB), black gastronomy ( § 12 GastG ), tax evasion ( payment without invoice ), terrorist financing or illegal arms trade ( § 51 WaffG bis 54 WaffG).

In organized crime in particular , illegal activities, which are punishable by law, generate considerable amounts of black money. By political donations that are not the requirements of disclosure of the Law on Political Parties comply arises in principle black money; see e.g. B. the CDU donation affair of 1999 and the Cologne donation affair of the SPD of 1994/99.

If the black money cannot be assigned to a single person, i.e. is owned by an organization or group, the term black cash register is also used . The formation of such black coffers violates current budgetary principles in Germany and can be punished as breach of trust under Section 266 of the Criminal Code . Money from corruption is also mostly black money.

Legal issues

The offender can illegally use the pecuniary advantages of criminal offenses as long as the offense remains undetected. Section 40 AO clarifies that it is irrelevant for taxation whether a behavior violates a legal requirement , prohibition or morality . Therefore, income / assets from criminal or immoral acts are also taxable. The pecuniary advantages become black money if the offender commits tax evasion with them . Tax evasion is an illegal criminal act according to § 370 AO, which leads to a financial advantage for the perpetrator with the help of illegal tax savings. Black money in the sense of criminal tax law is therefore untaxed money, i.e. income that is withheld from proper taxation. Tax evasion also occurs when goods are traded whose import , export or merchanting is prohibited (Section 370 (5) AO). Debt and other expense, operating expenses , advertising costs and other expenses are allowed according to § 160 para. 1 AO are fiscally considered only if the taxpayer the creditor or the creditor accurately identifies.

The money laundering is first the trial of the offender, black money through transactions to legalize to disguise its illegal origin. Anyone who hides an object resulting from an unlawful criminal act, conceals its origin or thwarts or endangers the determination of the origin, the finding, the confiscation or the seizure of such an object, will be punished with imprisonment for money laundering according to Section 261 (1) of the Criminal Code . The assets or income resulting from property or property offenses are subject to confiscation by the law enforcement authorities in accordance with Section 73 of the Criminal Code .

The Money Laundering Act (GwG) regulates which legal entities are obliged to take special precautions with regard to combating this money laundering, such as the documentation of cash deposits from EUR 15,000 or certain identity checks . This is regulated in the law in § 2 AMLA the obligation for banks , insurance companies , traders , casinos , legal advisory professions and a variety of other addressees , on suspicion of a money laundering suspicious transaction report to report. The complainant is exempt from any liability , unless the report or criminal complaint has been made intentionally or through gross negligence and is untrue ( Section 48 of the GwG). A suspicious transaction report must also be filed if there is a suspicion of financing a terrorist organization ( Section 1 (2) of the GwG).

The legalization of black money has been made even more difficult by the obligation to indicate the tax number or sales tax identification number on invoices ( § 14 Paragraph 4 No. 2 UStG ), especially in the catering trade. This also applies to craftsmen's services in the context of household-related services according to Section 35a (3 ) EStG , which are only deductible for owner-occupied apartments , single-family or multi-family houses if an invoice is presented.

economic aspects

In Germany, it is estimated that at least 50 billion euros are subject to money laundering annually, of which around 20 billion euros outside the credit institutions. Money laundering can therefore reach up to 2% of the gross domestic product generated . Since 2003, around 207 billion euros in illegal money have flowed abroad from Greece.

As early as February 1936, John Maynard Keynes recognized that excessive taxation would drive the rich into tax evasion . The lower the tax rate in a country, the lower the tax resistance of taxable economic entities to the tax payment and the lower the incentive to evade tax. In order to reduce the black money stock at least from originally legal activity, economic theorists demand that the state quota be lowered.