Business news

MINSK, 17 December (BelTA) – Work on the new edition of the Tax Code has been finished. The document will be brought in to the parliament soon, BelTA learned from Belarusian Finance Minister Maksim Yermolovich on 17 December.

Several interagency groups operating under the aegis of different government agencies have put the final shine on the new Tax Code. Lingering differences of opinion have been discussed regularly for the last two weeks. “A common stance has been worked out. Over 35 matters, which are crucial to private business operation, have been reviewed. In our opinion, this edition of the Tax Code meets the requirements set when instructions to polish the taxation legislation were given,” said Maksim Yermolovich.

The new Tax Code is viewed as an essential step forward on the way of simplifying tax legislation and tax administration. “But we have to understand that we cannot make any substantial steps to reduce the tax burden in this situation. The budget needs to be balanced and needs to honor social commitments. This is why the new edition of the Tax Code has not substantially reduced the tax burden. Yet the Tax Code is much friendlier towards the private sector,” said the Belarusian finance minister.

In particular, the new document takes into account proposals of the entrepreneurship promotion council, which believes it is necessary to reduce the max multiplier on the real estate tax and the land tax from 2.5 to 2 as from 2020. The novelty is expected to have little effect on revenues of municipal budgets because the maximum multiplier is rarely used. Yet the private businesses, which have to deal with high multipliers, will feel a gradual decrease in the tax burden.