City officials in Oslo are threatening to withhold liquor licenses for cafés, bars and restaurants caught cheating on their taxes, after authorities uncovered accounting irregularities at more than half of all eating establishments that were audited last year.
It’s suspected that most of the irregularities were an attempt to evade taxes, since they involved underreporting of revenues. Newspaper Aftenposten reported that 135 of 250 restaurants, cafés and snack bars audited by tax authority Skatt øst were charged with accounting violations.
Ten companies were cited and fined for failing to make ordered corrections, while 55 restaurants were reported to police for alleged black market activities.
“Information from the tax authorities is quite useful when liquor licenses need to be renewed in Oslo,” Hallstein Bjercke of the city government (byråd) told Aftenposten. He earlier has warned of stricter control of restaurant operators, and tougher rules for liquor licenses are expected soon.
Views and News staff
