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February 01, 2023 /
The Munich Regional Court has sentenced celebrity chef Alfons Schuhbeck to three years and two months in prison for tax evasion, falling short of the prosecution’s demand for four years and two months. Schuhbeck increasingly confessed during the trial.
Specifically, the public prosecutor’s office accuses Schuhbeck of smuggling around 2.4 million euros past the state coffers between 2009 and 2015. The perfidious part: not, as is often the case in tax evasion cases, through incorrect tax returns. Schuhbeck, together with co-defendant Jürgen W., allegedly used an IT program to take money from the tills of his restaurants without it being recorded in the books.
In the opinion of trial observers, this could have had an aggravating effect, as the criminal energy in this case is higher than in “ordinary” tax offenses due to the use of specially programmed software. Although Schuhbeck confessed in principle, he was unable to provide precise details on the function of the software and the exact procedure. He also asked the court to believe that the sum of the canceled invoices was lower than assumed. However, he was unable to provide any concrete evidence of this.
As the defendants did not make any specific statements about the procedure or claimed to have gaps in their memories, it was not possible to fully clarify how exactly Schuhbeck and his assistant falsified the receipts in his restaurants. Depending on the restaurant, different scams were used.
From 2014, for example, a certain “waiter 0” was introduced who only recorded negative sales. While all other waiters made correct entries, money could be taken from the till.
Previously, many data records were already incomplete. Crooked amounts were deducted from all employees, so that around €500 to €600 was missing every day. In 2010, around €687,000 was missing from a turnover of almost five million euros. When the Munich tax office scheduled a tax audit in 2018, the co-defendant Jürgen W. presumably realized that the fraud would be exposed and contacted the authorities.
In addition to tax evasion under Section 370 of the German Fiscal Code, which is often regarded by the public as a trivial offense, there is also reckless tax evasion under Section 378 of the German Fiscal Code, which requires a lack of intent, i.e. gross negligence.
| Tax evasion | Tax evasion |
|---|---|
| Criminal offense | Misdemeanor |
| Intent | Gross negligence |
| Up to €50,000: Up to 5 years imprisonment From €50,000: Six months to 10 years imprisonment | Administrative proceedings |
As part of his work as a lawyer for criminal tax law, Dr. Klaus Höchstetter closely observed the trial at Munich Regional Court and provided his expertise to the private broadcaster RTL in several media reports.
Source:
Schuhbeck trial: Tax evasion or tax avoidance? (br.de; last accessed on 01.02.2023)
Trial in Munich: Schuhbeck admits further manipulations (sz.de; last accessed on 01.02.2023)
Alfons Schuhbeck confesses in tax trial – This is how he fooled the tax office (merkur.de; last accessed on 01.02.2023)
Tax evasion: Schuhbeck must go to prison (lto.de; last accessed on 01.02.2023)
Image source: AdobeStock 516085969 by creativemariolorek