Thief steals Veyron in Switzerland, caught in Germany, slammed with tax fraud

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D-Fence

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Old story: http://www.*************/2011/05/14/police-chase-with-stolen-bugatti-veyron-grand-sport/

Long story short:

Thieves steal supercars in Switzerland.
Thieves drive through Germany.
Two out of three get caught by the POLIZEI, the third runs away.
They go to jail.
They get additionally charged by German customs for tax fraud and have to pay 370.000? for smuggling a 1,2 million Euros Veyron into the EU (because they weren't registred in EU, 10% of value and 19% tax).
Talk about a job gone completly wrong :D


http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/0,1518,768587,00.html

//edit: I have no idea why it is censored, but replace the stars with "G Tspirit.com" :/
 
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I find it very strange that they would be charged the 10% import duty since:

1) There is a free trade agreement between Switzerland and the EU.
2) The car was made in the EU to begin with.
 
2) doesn't matter, and the main issue here is that a German drove a non-German registred car in Germany. It is regarded as tax fraud, stupid law, I know.
For example, during Ringmeet, if I borrowed f.e. Adunaphel's Benz and got caught alone in it, I had to pay import tax on the value of the car + the car tax in Germany for the car's prior life. It is a bloody idiotic law, some exchange students got caught in that too.
Their argument is "Well you use a car in Germany, and whoever uses a car in Germany as a German has to pay road tax, which you didn't (doesn't matter if the owner payed road tax somewhere else) so it is tax fraud".
This is why my mate's dad has a second "home" (aka his friends adress) in the UK to legally drive his UK registred oldtimer in Germany, but it is kind of dodgy, he has to prove he is there a certain amount of the year etc.etc.
 
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2) doesn't matter, and the main issue here is that a German drove a non-German registred car in Germany. It is regarded as tax fraud, stupid law, I know.
For example, during Ringmeet, if I borrowed f.e. Adunaphel's Benz and got caught alone in it, I had to pay import tax on the value of the car + the car tax in Germany for the car's prior life. It is a bloody idiotic law, some exchange students got caught in that too.
Their argument is "Well you use a car in Germany, and whoever uses a car in Germany as a German has to pay road tax, which you didn't (doesn't matter if the owner payed road tax somewhere else) so it is tax fraud".
This is why my mate's dad has a second "home" (aka his friends adress) in the UK to legally drive his UK registred oldtimer in Germany, but it is kind of dodgy, he has to prove he is there a certain amount of the year etc.etc.

I cannot imagine that there is a law that requires you to pay import duty on a car that is not subject to an import duty if imported legally. Maybe some kind of a fine but not the actual import duty. And the whole idea behind these obstructions seems to be a violation of the freedom of movement, but it is not the first time I have heard of similar things happening. I hear Ireland is harassing drivers of foreign registered cars too.

Edit: Now that I think about it, maybe he "failed to prove the origin" of the cars or some shit. The origin of a Veyron is not exactly a mistery but the burden of proving it probably still lies on "the importer" and he was probably kind of busy sitting in a jail.
 
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2) doesn't matter, and the main issue here is that a German drove a non-German registred car in Germany. It is regarded as tax fraud, stupid law, I know.
For example, during Ringmeet, if I borrowed f.e. Adunaphel's Benz and got caught alone in it, I had to pay import tax on the value of the car + the car tax in Germany for the car's prior life. It is a bloody idiotic law, some exchange students got caught in that too.
Their argument is "Well you use a car in Germany, and whoever uses a car in Germany as a German has to pay road tax, which you didn't (doesn't matter if the owner payed road tax somewhere else) so it is tax fraud".
This is why my mate's dad has a second "home" (aka his friends adress) in the UK to legally drive his UK registred oldtimer in Germany, but it is kind of dodgy, he has to prove he is there a certain amount of the year etc.etc.

That is the most mental law I have ever heard (I thought people who pass laws like that ended up dead in a bunker in 1945). Do you not have to purport to be the owner, well if you are not then I do not see that you are liable as you do not have the asset. You should pay the tax when you register the car, you should be given a reasonable amount of time so to do. Ukanian law is thus, and the time period I think is 12 months.
 
How did 3 thieves fit in a Veyron?
 
You should pay the tax when you register the car, you should be given a reasonable amount of time so to do.

I believe the crux here is evasion of road tax. On a Veyron, that'd be well over 1000? per year. For that you need to sign a direct debit authorization before registering the car.

Also, the largest part of the sum is VAT. You need to pay VAT for bringing anything into Germany. My Skoda from Denmark (well within the EU) also had its VAT paid in Germany, not in Denmark (yay - 19% instead of 25%).
 
The thieves won't have to pay anything anyhow, it's not like these kinds of people declare income, so it's kind of a silly fine. How they're going get a pair of thieves, who are not the rightful owners of the vehicle, convicted of tax evasion in the first place I cannot fathom.

Also, the largest part of the sum is VAT. You need to pay VAT for bringing anything into Germany. My Skoda from Denmark (well within the EU) also had its VAT paid in Germany, not in Denmark (yay - 19% instead of 25%).
Only on new cars. I think we can consider this Veyron "used". And claiming it's an "import" is a veeery long stretch I think. While Switzerland isn't a member of the EU, it's signed so many bilateral agreements it is in practice nigh no difference to a EU country.
 
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It's got nothing to do with road tax in this case. When you import a car from Switzerland to Germany (EU) you have to pay duty, there are exceptions for cars without engines and the rules are of course very complicated. You have to have a receipt of this if you want to register the car in Germany.
So they had to pay the duty for the stolen car same as if they had smuggled (stolen) cigarettes, watches, anything worth something basically.
 
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How did they ever expect to get away with stealing a Veyron? :? It's not like it would blend in like a Ford Focus or something.

How did 3 thieves fit in a Veyron?

They should have stolen a McLaren F1.
 
I have no idea, I understand stealing a 7 series and maaaaaaaaaaaaybe the 599, some *cough* Russians *cough* might have payed for that, but a Veyron, which is unserviceable everywhere else is just.....meh.
Then again, they drove a Veyron. Worth it? Yes.

Oh and for the lulz: a German put police lights into a Veyron ;)

 
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It's the teenager in me talking and it's completely wrong, but this story sounds absoloutley awesome. How do you steal a Veyron anyway?
 
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