Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That brings us to the carousel or the missing trader fraud issue. A company could be set up and be very active, but it is gone when the time comes to chase it. The Comptroller and Auditor General's report refers to missing trader fraud. Paragraph 11.44 on page 165 states the Revenue Commissioners have not tried to estimate the scale of missing trader or carousel fraud in Ireland or the associated cost in terms of VAT forgone. It states that in the United Kingdom the revenue authorities estimate the unpaid VAT in respect of this type of fraud at approximately £1.5 billion in 2009-10 and that it represents approximately 13% of all unpaid VAT. There appears to be a problem in other EU countries. Ireland, being a more open economy with a greater level of exports and imports, is probably more susceptible to this carousel or missing trader fraud than most other countries, the economies of which are not as open. The United Kingdom appears to have put an estimate on it, but the Revenue Commissioners have not even tried to estimate it.