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Tax authorities suspected fraud at company Ahmet Gökçe: 'Has been in a roller coaster since 2013'

June 2, 2019 at 3:29pm

NL

Since 2013, Ahmet Gökçe has been living in a different reality. Despite good reviews, his childminder agency Dadim came under the scrutiny of the tax authorities due to a suspicion of fraud. However, the tax authorities would have used incorrect information to tackle fraud at its childcare agency.

Written by

Corné Verschuren

Childcare surcharges were allegedly stopped unfairly. In almost all cases, it concerns parents with a second nationality, such as Turkish or Moroccan. An in-depth investigation into ethnic profiling is now underway.

Gökçe's childcare agency is not doing well. “For the past five years, I've been kept out of all conversations. I'm hoping for a happy ending, but I'm not very confident.” Customers of childcare agencies got hit with the tax authorities and sometimes had to repay large amounts.

A childcare agency provides childcare for people who do not want to take their children to daycare. Childcare takes place with childminders. For this, the parents receive a childcare allowance. The childminders receive that allowance through the childminding agency.

Bulgarian fraudThe reason for the 2013 investigation was the so-called Bulgarian fraud. They claimed surcharges for fraud. “At some point, we came into the picture and the ball started rolling. Twenty of our childminders received a visit from the tax authorities and had to show their records. The tax authorities also came to us for an audit. In 2014, we received troubled calls that people were no longer receiving their benefits and that an investigation would follow.

Gökçe started his childcare agency in 2005 and, at the time of the audit, had 157 customers, mostly Turkish and Moroccan parents. “After the sample, all parents had to visit the tax authorities to see if they were lawfully receiving their benefits. I now have ten more customers. In five years, I haven't heard a reason from the tax authorities why the surcharges were withdrawn.”

Increasingly complexThe childminding agency filed a complaint with the Data Protection Authority about keeping the second nationality. “The authority is further investigating. The tax authorities say they are cleaning up the data from the basic administration. The matter is becoming increasingly complex. The tax authorities have saved millions of euros by recovering the surcharges and the years they have not paid out.”

Gökçe still has a thriving daycare center and hopes that things will come to an end soon. “I don't want to go bankrupt. I want to help my parents. It has become a complex case, as it turns out, because people should probably file a lawsuit before the Council of State. They are legal laymen.” He can't say anything about a possible claim for compensation. “I hope so for the people. We've been on a roller coaster since 2014, and that's to say the least.”

Tax authorities suspected fraud at company Ahmet Gökçe: 'Has been in a roller coaster since 2013' - Omroep Brabant