A quarter of construction workers in Estonia receive unreported wages

TALLINN - After holding extensive raids on 66 construction sites on Tuesday and Wednesday, Estonian Tax and Customs Board stated that nearly a quarter of construction workers in Estonia receive unreported wages, National Broadcasting reports.

A total of 130 state officials asked nearly a 1,000 people who were present at the construction sites whether and how their work relations have been documented.

Nearly 40 people on 14 sites ran away from tax officials during the raid. Tax Board's construction sphere audits manager Rauno Ellermaa said that such fleeing indicates clearly that employers of these people have built their business on tax fraud.

Illegal workers from Bulgaria, Ukraine and Latvia were also ascertained at the sites and the Tax Board informed the corresponding authorities.

Last year, the state was deprived of at last 40 million euros of tax money in the construction sphere. "Over a quarter of construction companies do not comply with their tax obligations properly and there is room for development here," said Tax and Customs board audit department head Kaido Lemendik.