A new report from the Audit Office has raised serious questions. It looks at a property sale with a very low price. This happened recently. The report was released on Tuesday. It focuses on a sale where the price was much lower than expected. This has caused worry about lost government money. It also raises concerns about following tax rules.
The property was first planned to sell in 2015. The price was €19.35 million. But only six months later, in 2016, the deal changed. A new contract was signed. The property’s value became €10.85 million. This was a big drop of €8.5 million. The report said there was no proof for this big change. There was no independent valuation. Also, no reason was given for the lower price. The market did not change much then.
The Audit Office also criticized the Tax Department. They did not check this sale when it happened. The Audit Office thinks the price drop was very unusual. It was a high risk. Tax officials should have looked closely. This price drop could mean less tax for the government. This includes value-added tax. Selling for much less than the market value is not allowed. It seems like the price was made lower on purpose.
The Audit Office also noted something else. The sellers seemed to give up €8.5 million. They did not get anything for it. This affected the companies' financial reports. The first price would have made a profit of €760,000. The lower price meant the sellers had a loss of €7.74 million. This loss helped reduce the companies’ taxes. They paid €4.45 million less tax in 2016.
The report also said the payment terms did not change. This was in both the first and the new contract. This makes the big price cut seem strange. There was no good reason for it. The Audit Office is worried about this sale. They want to know why the Tax Department did not investigate. This report may lead to more checks. It could also change how the Tax Department works.