Austria Unveils Enhanced Financial Crimes Investigation Process to Combat Fraud

Austria has taken a significant step in tackling the growing menace of financial crimes by consolidating its tax and social fraud units under the Federal Ministry of Finance’s Anti-Fraud Office (ABB). This strategic move is expected to enhance coordination, efficiency, and effectiveness in preventing and repressing fraud nationwide.

Structure of the Anti-Fraud Office

The ABB comprises four business units:

• Fiscal Offences: Responsible for ensuring the rule of law in administrative financial criminal proceedings. It provides expert advice on financial offences and has powers similar to those of the Criminal Investigation Department under the Austrian Code of Criminal Procedure.
  • Divided into:
    • 19 teams
    • Operational legal unit
    • Collection/penalties team
• Financial Police Unit: A professional investigation and control body that conducts targeted controls to detect tax evasion, social fraud, organized shadow economy, and illegal gambling. It consists of:
  • 42 operational teams
  • Data Information and Processing Centre
  • Central Coordination
  • Legal Service
  • Organizational team
• Tax Investigation Sector: Aims to combat systematic and organized tax fraud by detecting repetitive tax evasion through proactive detection and combating of fraud schemes. It consists of:
  • 12 investigation teams
  • Two IT investigation teams
  • Legal unit
  • Organizational team
• Central Office for International Cooperation: Provides administrative assistance for value-added tax and other taxes, enforcement, financial offences, and suspicious money laundering reports. It includes:
  • Two teams from the Central Liaison Office (CLO)
  • One team for International Cooperation in Fiscal Criminal Investigation (ICFI)
  • One team for Eurofisc/Europol/Money Laundering

Expected Impact

The revamped financial crimes investigation process is expected to strengthen Austria’s efforts to combat fraud and protect its financial interests. The Anti-Fraud Office has been updated to January 1, 2021.

This enhanced process will enable:

• Improved coordination and efficiency in preventing and repressing fraud
• Enhanced cooperation with foreign anti-fraud units and exchange of fraud-related information within the European Union
• Strengthened efforts to combat systematic and organized tax fraud
• Effective detection and combating of repetitive tax evasion schemes

Overall, Austria’s revamped financial crimes investigation process is a significant step towards tackling the growing menace of financial crimes and protecting its financial interests.