Moldova to reduce bureaucracy in the tax and customs fields.
During a briefing on Tuesday, Finance Ministry head Veronica Sireteanu and Deputy Prime Minister, Economy and Digitalization Minister Dumitru Alaiba presented a new package of measures aimed at simplifying the work of businesses and reducing bureaucracy in the tax and customs fields. The relevant package of legislative amendments was elaborated on the platform of the Economic Council under the Prime Minister, taking into account the problems and difficulties voiced by the business community. It is noted that the proposed measures will save businesses at least 0.5 billion lei annually and 5 million working hours per year. According to the Finance Minister, the possibility to deduct VAT on the basis of cash receipts issued by cash registers, which are connected to the "Electronic Sales Monitoring" system, will be introduced. Today, 21 thousand cash registers are connected to this system, or one third of all cash registers used in the country. There will also be a possibility to place gasoline and diesel fuel under the customs regime of customs warehouse - this norm was proposed as a reaction to the energy crisis of last year. It is planned to increase from 100 to 500 lei the amount of the admissible tax arrears; to allow the re-import of the previously exported goods under simplified procedures; to simplify the procedure of declaring the goods imported and exported to/from Moldova through postal items - instead of an extended declaration, it will be necessary to fill in a simplified customs declaration. At the same time, Deputy Prime Minister Dumitru Alaiba said that one of the measures included in the debureaucratization package is the abolition of the register of cash register equipment, which will save the entrepreneurs from the need to glue Z-reports and save at least 5 million working hours per year. The possibility of using a cash register receipt to deduct VAT on goods and services purchased by businesses using business cards will be introduced. Today, there are about 19,000 active business cards registered; in 2022, about 713,000 transactions were made with such cards. Also, according to Minister Alaiba, efforts to digitalize all procedures will continue. For example, the legal requirements for exchange of information on paper, the use of holographic signature, as well as the obligation for entrepreneurs to physically visit the offices of the State Tax Service will be abolished. Another proposed measure is the halving of the minimum obligation that can be appealed to the State Tax Service Dispute Resolution Council: from 500,000 to 250,000 lei - for economic agents and from 250,000 to 125,000 lei - for individuals. According to Alaiba, the high ceiling of liability today does not allow to use this mechanism of dispute resolution to the full extent. Thus, last year, the Council considered only two complaints, while entrepreneurs and individuals preferred to appeal to the courts - about 700 appeals in 2022. Also, business associations will represent the majority in the Council. This measure will relieve the burden on the judicial system and simplify access to the Dispute Resolution Council. The draft law proposed by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economic Development and Digitalization will be submitted for public consultations. //01.08.2023 - InfoMarket.
