The Comptroller is sensitive to fuels tax problems and cooperates with other agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the IRS, Texas Department of Public Safety, and the Travis County District Attorney's Office in detecting fuels tax fraud and collecting the fuels taxes owed to the State. Audits and investigations have uncovered millions of dollars in fuels taxes which have been evaded by individuals and companies across the state. It is important to detect problems early and assess and collect the tax before the money is placed beyond reach in foreign bank accounts, etc. Every effort is being made to recover as much as possible, but the primary goal is to put tax cheats out of business and into jail. This not only brings in the fuel revenue to the State, but it provides equal opportunity to fuel marketers to sell their product throughout Texas without unfair competition.
Fraud can, and does, occur in the largest corporation right down to the smallest business.
That is not to say that every audit is a fraud audit, but the auditor should be ever-mindful of the possibility. That is, there must be conscious deliberate effort in order for fraud to be present. Fraud is not always present just because all tax collected has not been remitted. Distributor A is experiencing financial difficulties, and every month when the fuels tax report is due, Distributor A reports whatever amount of money he has in the checking account on the due date, even though the accrual account indicates more tax is due. Distributor B also sends in less tax than is in the accrual account.