Venezuela Tax Office Temporarily Shuts H-P, Motorola Offices

CARACAS
Venezuela's Seniat tax office has temporarily shut the administrative offices of Hewlett Packard and Motorola amid a wider campaign to curb tax evasion, the Seniat said Thursday.

The offices of Hewlett-Packard's local affiliate will be shut for three days, while Motorola's will be shut for two days. The companies will also have to pay token fines of $781 and $391, respectively, for bookkeeping irregularities, according to the tax office.

In 2003 the Seniat began an aggressive push to combat tax evasion that included closing the offices of large firms with bookkeeping irregularities. Strict tax enforcement and robust economic growth has helped boost tax collection in recent years. The agency plans to surpass its 2006 tax-collection goal by at least 20%.