“Business Expenses” – Benko: Guns, Wine, the Jet and the Tax

He has been flying for years in a private jet, currently of the Global 7000 type, new price: about 70 million euros. Has sailed on yachts for many years, currently with RoMa, formerly owned by nightclub owner Ronny Pecik. Stayed in Vienna in a huge penthouse and treated himself, among other things, to a wine cellar in Innsbruck, where he and his (business) friends served delicious wines. Seen in the light of day, one could certainly get the impression: René Benko allows himself a life in the lap of luxury.

In this particular case, the word “afford” could be supplemented with the small addition: at whose expense? Because: The real estate juggler is known to be suspected of having offered the former top-ranking official of the Treasury Department a high-paying job so that two tax proceedings can be decided in his favor and high back taxes can be avoided as much as possible.

It concerned the question of the professional or private use of yachts and jet fighters, even shotguns, as the German “Wirtschaftswoche” now reports. This is one of the reasons corruption investigators are said to have carried out a search of Benko’s Signa Holding in mid-October, Krone reports. The presumption of innocence applies to Benko.

“Hidden profit distribution”?
The report of the “Wirtschaftswoche” is explosive. It states: “Ultimately, the ongoing investigation goes back to a few large accountants at the East location. They had a problem with the tax return of a company that belongs to Benko’s Signa Group. For example, the question was whether the company could declare the costs of a luxury yacht of 59 meters in length ‘to maintain business relationships’. Company officials argued that wealthy businessmen were met on the boat to attract them to investors, for example, but accountants had their doubts.”

Auditors also struggled to recognize the cost of weapons and ammunition used on hunting trips as a business expense. In addition, the “Wirtschaftswoche” reveals new details about a “fiscally advantageous sale of a real estate project”: this “represented probably the biggest problem”. Benko’s private foundation was involved. Since the Luxembourg company passed on the property a short time later at a significant profit, tax officials suspected that this could be a hidden profit distribution to Benko.

Help in the millions
At the research level, the mills of justice are now turning. At the political level, the question arises: should one continue to support potential tax avoiders with taxpayers’ money? As is well known, Benko’s financially ailing department store chain Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof in Germany has so far received 680 million euros in state aid. But there was also 7.7 million in aid money in Austria. For kika-Leiner. Although the furniture industry was one of the winners in the Corona crisis.