Tax Reform Stalled

Baku / 09.01.18 / Turan: Independent economists' forecasts were confirmed that government organizations would not be able to carry out the entire scope of reforms in the tax sector, and as a result, the tax system of Azerbaijan will go into a stupor.

According to the Ministry of Taxes Taxpayers Assistance Center, the interest rate of taxation for those citizens who paid 4% or 2% of profit tax (4% in Baku, 2% in other localities of the country) is still not known. The part of citizens, formerly called the simplified tax payers and working under the individual labor contract, from January 1, 2019 loses the right to pay the simplified tax. And how much they have to transfer monthly to the accounts of the Ministry of Taxes is not known. The Ministry is waiting for a special order on the issue of the Cabinet of Ministers.

Add that in the Center for Assistance to Taxpayers they also told Turan that the size of compulsory social insurance this year has not changed yet, since the minimum wage in the country remains the same, and the amount of insurance is calculated at 20% of the minimum wage bill.

Businessmen cannot find answers to their questions, since tax reforms cover many areas of business. The telephone number of the Ministry of Taxes (195) is difficult to reach due to the large number of calls and the citizens' queue at the Center for Assistance to Taxpayers.

On January 8, the website of the Ministry of Taxes stopped work several times. The journalist Ulker Abdullayeva, who failed to report online on the website, was explained by the service staff that the resource is stuck due to a large number of calls. She was asked to clear the browser's memory and try to connect to the resource several times a day. If this measure fails, then Abdullayeva should send a letter to the Ministry explaining the problem. "If the website of the Ministry of Taxes worked, I would not have to write letters to them through this website. And if it does not work, then how can I send them letters through a frozen resource? Why should I leave my duties and improve the work of the Ministry"s website?" Abdullayeva wondered. According to other data, the interruption of the functioning of the resource took place on other days of the 20-day period of mandatory reporting for the past quarter.

A Turan employee who tried to submit a social insurance report was forced to interrupt the process due to a technical error on the website, the representative of the Ministry of Taxes informed the employee. A day later, a representative of the Ministry notified the taxpayer about the resolution of a technical problem, having advised, if the website did not work, to send a letter to the Ministry describing the problem. But turning to the site, the journalist again faced its malfunction. It was possible to pass the reports at the Center for Assistance to Taxpayers, Baku.

The problem for the Ministry of Taxes was also the transfer of the functions of receiving citizens' reports on the payment of compulsory social insurance and checking these reports and payments. The Ministry cannot cope with surging new commitments.

The economist Natig Jafarli, who predicted the collapse of the work of the Ministry of Taxes, believes that until this summer the Ministry will return to the previous tax rules, making sure that it is unable to carry out the adopted reform package.--0--