Missing trader fraud
Missing trader fraud (also called missing trader intra-community fraud or MTIC fraud) involves the non-payment of Value Added Tax (VAT) to a government by fraudsters who exploit VAT rules, most commonly the European Union VAT rules which provide that the movement of goods between member states is VAT-free. There are different variations of the fraud, but they generally involve a trader charging VAT on the sale of goods and absconding with the VAT instead of paying it to the taxation authority.