Serbia arrests businessman over 52.3m dinar VAT fraud
Interior Ministry says I. M., 44, from Kursumlija filed false tax returns between 2022 and 2025, costing the state budget 52,291,929 dinars.
Serbia’s Interior Ministry (MUP) said on July 30 that police had arrested I. M., 44, from Kursumlija, on suspicion of value added tax fraud and tax evasion. The damage to the state budget is put at 52,291,929 dinars.
Police believe the man acted as the responsible officer of a company registered in Kursumlija. Between 2022 and 2025, the ministry says, that company’s tax returns carried false figures.
What the suspect is accused of
Two criminal offences are involved. One is VAT fraud, the other is tax evasion. According to the ministry, the false returns served three purposes:
- claiming VAT refunds the company was not entitled to
- claiming tax credit on the same false basis
- avoiding tax owed over the same period
Money was suspected of moving in both directions at once. The budget paid out what it did not owe, and did not collect what it was owed. Guilt is decided in court, and the suspect is presumed innocent until a final verdict.
Who worked the case
The arrest came out of a campaign against the shadow economy. The Criminal Police Directorate took part through its Criminal Investigation Service and its economic crime unit, together with the Prokuplje Police Department. The Tax Police branch in Nis joined the operation.
The suspect was handed over, with a criminal complaint, to the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Kursumlija, which is running the case.
How big is 52.3 million next to earlier cases?
Bigger than the fictitious invoice case we reported earlier, where the estimated loss was 37.4 million dinars and two men were arrested. This time the figure is almost fifteen million higher and there is a single suspect.
The venue is the same as well. Kursumlija, a small town in southern Serbia, has now produced two separate tax crime files handled by the same prosecutor’s office. Added together, the two cases account for close to 90 million dinars in reported damage.
Tax fraud is rarely caught while it is happening. Returns go in month after month, and the gap only shows up in later checks, which is why the period named in the police statement stretches three years back.
The figure of 52,291,929 dinars is what investigators estimated before charges were filed. It can move up or down once the prosecution gathers company records and expert findings.
