Concealing Income to Avoid/Reduce Taxes (Non-Muslim Countries)

Questioner: Your Eminence, Sheikh, there are some publishing houses that are requested to send books, particularly Islamic books, to Muslim distributors who sell them in non-Muslim countries where there are Muslim minorities. However, when these goods—being the books—enter these countries, very high taxes are imposed if it is known that they are for commercial purposes. As a result, the distributors ask the publishing houses to issue a second invoice with a value lower than the original commercial price—below the threshold that incurs taxes—thereby avoiding large tax payments on the goods. The question is whether it is permissible to send a second invoice that is not truthful, simply to present it to the customs authorities in those countries to avoid paying the high taxes. Sheikh Uthaymeen asks: Will the customers benefit from the reduced price? Questioner: No, the price reflected on the second invoice is no more than 2% of the actual value, and it is a fictitious amount. Sheikh Uthaymeen: In my view, there is no issue with this because, ultimately, what they are doing is concealing the true price to protect themselves from injustice. There is no harm in this.