Tax police are also less likely to seize physical assets than cash. By law, any money deposited into bank accounts by companies that owe taxes may immediately be taken by tax authorities. Tax evasion is often cited as an impetus for barter. According to Thomas Tirone of the Tirone Corporation, barter can be up to 150 percent more profitable than cash transactions due to the absence of tax and debt liabilities. The subjective value of barter trades allows bookkeepers to record reduced values on income statements, and ensure lower tax and debt liabilities.
Many barter trades escape accounting records altogether.
Recorded as inventory swaps, these transactions leave no tax liability and open the door to illicit enrichment of owners and top management. For example, one good produced at a cost of usd50 to be sold at usd70, is bartered for another good valued at usd70. Many non-viable companies continue operating, in part thanks to barter, which covers payments of inputs, taxes and debt obligations. According to . Up to two thirds of textile mills in Russia were technically insolvent in 1997, but continued to operate by paying for cotton from suppliers with finished textile products.