Since 2020, 297 complaints have been filed against companies that engage in alleged fraud in the Dominican Tax System. Social security (SDSS), and are currently being investigated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
According to the Social Security Treasury (TSS), of the complaints, 28 correspond to public entities and 269 to private entities, including individuals, NGOs and commercial companies.
The TSS did not identify the company namess that are being investigated, but did point out that, to date, none have been convicted.
Sanctions for employers who commit the crime of fraud They vary depending on the activity carried out and the degree of participation of those involved.
The Social Security Law establishes a maximum penalty of one year of correctional imprisonment for those who violate the provisions of Law 87-01. However, the Dominican penal system does not stipulate the accumulation of penalties; therefore, if a court finds a person guilty of fraudwill consider all violations committed and apply the most severe penalty.
The Social Security Treasury He told Diario Libre that if a company charges its employees contributions to the TSSbut does not report them, the worker has the right to file a complaint for breach of trust.
In addition, you can report the situation to the Directorate of Information and Defense of Affiliates (DIDA) to initiate an audit of the company by the TSS.
Articles 62, 144 and 202 of the Law 87-01 They establish that the employer acts as a withholding agent and has the obligation to discount and remit to the Dominican System of Social security the corresponding part of their workers’ salaries, together with the mandatory contributions.
Therefore, the employer not only has the responsibility to comply with these payments, but cannot return the funds to the workers, since his duty is to ensure compliance with the regulations.
In July of this year, the Social Security TreasurerHenry Sahdalá, announced the existence of 56 companies that have been irregularly providing their access code to the Social security (Class) to health insurance salesmen. According to Sahdalá, these salesmen have been fraudulently registering people suffering from high-cost diseases as supposed workers.
By that date, according to data from the TSSthe number of fraudulent records identified amounted to 13,120, which represented an economic loss to the SDSS of 60,870,790.68 pesos.
It was explained that since the TSS Constant monitoring is carried out on the records made by employers in the Single Information and Collection System (SUIR), in order to detect evasion, omission, avoidance and fraud to family health insurance and report to the relevant authorities those who threaten the economic and financial balance of the System through the illegal marketing of family health insurance under the contributory regime.
Fundraising
By July 2024, the total income raised by the TSS amount to 118,512 million pesos, for a growth of 10.5 5 compared to the same period in 2023.
