摘要：On January 28, 2008, Quebec’s minister of revenue, Jean-Marc Fournier, announced that
by late 2009 Revenu Québec would begin testing an anti-fraud device—the “sales
recording module” (SRM)—in the restaurant sector. The srm is designed to detect the
erasure of digital sales records in electronic cash registers and point-of-sale systems—a
type of fraud that contributes to more than $425 million annually in lost tax revenues in
the restaurant sector alone. Quebec studies indicate that restaurateurs are increasingly
employing technology to alter digital records in order to conceal income from the
business and avoid reporting and remitting taxes due. The srm will assist provincial
auditors in detecting such fraudulent activities.
Revenue authorities around the globe have taken two approaches to assuring the
integrity of business records in cash-intensive industries: one approach secures the till;
the other relies on principles of compliance and enforcement to encourage good business
practices. With the introduction of the SRM, Quebec is taking steps to become a “fiscal
till” jurisdiction.
This article considers the SRM in a comparative context. The technological approaches
of Germany and Greece (both of which are fiscal till jurisdictions) are contrasted with the
approach adopted in the Netherlands (a principles-based jurisdiction), which relies on
intensive technology-based audits to assure digital record accuracy.
The article concludes with a suggestion that there may be something to learn from
the us streamlined sales tax initiative, which employs government certification of tax
technology to ensure the accuracy of transaction tax determinations.
关键词：Fraud n tax evasion n restaurants n anti-avoidance n technology n SR M
