Trade Mis-invoicing Training

Overview

This Trade Mis-invoicing Training in Dubai discusses in length the Trade misinvoicing methods for moving money illicitly across borders which involves the deliberate falsification of the value, volume, and/or type of commodity in an international commercial transaction of goods or services by at least one party to the transaction.

This training on Trade misinvoicing shall also shed light on combating the the largest component of illicit financial outflows.

Trade misinvoicing can be related to, but does not precisely correspond to, trade-based money laundering (TBML). Rather, trade misinvoicing is mechanism that can be used to engage in TBML.

This course discusses in length the Trade misinvoicing methods for moving money illicitly across borders which involves the deliberate falsification of the value, volume, and/or type of commodity in an international commercial transaction of goods or services by at least one party to the transaction.

Trade misinvoicing a “real and immediate liability”

Falsified trade invoices are responsible for a US$800bn gap each year in the value of the goods shipped around the world, creating reputation, business and compliance risks for banks that support international commerce.

Research by Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a think tank that tracks illicit cross-border financial flows, says the value gap for trade in goods totals US$8.8trn over the last ten years, and US$817.6bn for 2017.

That accounts for companies altering the value of goods on a trade invoice, typically in order to move money out of a country or evade taxes. For example, if Ecuador reports exporting bananas worth US$20mn to the US, but the US reports imports worth US$15mn, that would result in a value gap of US$5mn – a sum that has likely been transferred from Ecuador to the US.

Course contents

Background and introduction
Why is Trade Misinvoicing Used?
How Does Trade Misinvoicing Work?
Smuggling, capital flight and tax evasion
Cash based money laundering Vs trade-based money laundering
How risk-based intelligence can help combating TBML using data
How to stop Money laundering – Criminals or public officials may seek to launder the proceeds from crime or corruption
How to avoid Directly Evading Taxes and Customs Duties – By under-reporting the value of goods, importers are able to immediately evade substantial customs duties or other taxes
How to get rid of unwanted Claiming Tax Incentives – Export Incentives
How to deal with Dodging Capital Controls
How to overcome evading taxes and custom duties while misinvoicing in play
Misinvoicing, Trade Based Money Laundering and traffickers, smugglers, organized crime groups
Mispricing, submitting multiple invoices, over/understating goods, ghost shipments
What are the challenges of detecting an Illicit Trade
United Front – Banks, LEAs and Custom Authorities and methods can be used to mitigate TBML
GFI’s methodology to pick up transaction as an illicit outflow
Tax Avoidance by Multinational Companies
Aggressive tax avoidance schemes by multinational corporations through mispricing
Policy problems with separate solutions
How to avoid deliberate misreporting of the value, volume, or type of commodity in a customs-transactions, and is thus illegal tax evasion, not legal tax avoidance

Who must attend

The following personnel will benefit from the course:

Public and corporate tax professionals interested in building a solid foundation in taxation
Law enforcement agencies/ authorities
Professionals of the financial sector aiming at acquiring a basic knowledge on transfer pricing principles and transfer pricing approaches
Accountants and Tax advisers
General tax practitioners
Tax practitioners in advisory firms
Tax specialists in commercial and trade industries
Government officials
In-house tax directors/managers
Tax and customs regulatory bodies