At the beginning of September this year, the VID started sending letters to people who have a significant discrepancy of at least €20,000 between their bank account turnover and the income declared to the service. There are at least 70,000 such people. This is a new method by which the VID wants to get the public to pay their taxes.
So far, less than half of the 70,000 residents who received letters from the VID have replied, and "the result is already very, very positive", Baiba Šmite-Roķe.
"Half of the letters sent out have not yet been answered, but the answers and declarations given so far show a very good result," she said. The VID letters have to be answered within 30 days, but they were not sent out in one go, so for many the deadline is still the end of November or the first week of December. The VID promises to provide a summary of the effectiveness of this measure early next year.
Latvian Television also asked how people had reacted to the letters they had received.
"Many people thank the State Revenue Service because they did not know that, for example, inheritances have to be declared, that gifts from even the closest people, if they exceed EUR 10 000, also have to be declared as non-taxable income and still have to be included in the declarations," says the Director General of the VID.
Asked what would happen to people who did not respond to the invitation within 30 days, Šmite-Roķe said that "I want to reassure them, because it has been said somewhere in society that the State Revenue Service will automatically calculate something, it will definitely not happen".
The VID would approach each person individually and then talk further.
The VID will not involve other services. If there is no response, the State Revenue Service will make a more in-depth assessment.
