MARKOVIC: Much higher penalties for tax evasion in 2019

The director of the Tax Administration of Serbia, Dragana Markovic, says that the year 2019 will also be marked by this institution’s reform and that the suppression of the gray economy will remain one of the priorities. She announced in Blic that the penalties for tax evasion would be much higher in 2019.

As she explains, the new tax exemptions are meant for beginners in the field of innovations, in the form of the so-called tax credit, whereas a full tax and contribution exemption can be expected by newly founded companies for an income not exceeding RSD 37,000.

– All those who invest in the capital of a new company which performs innovative activities will have 30% of the investment recognized as a tax credit. It pertains to tax calculations beginning with 2019 – Markovic said.

The finance minister, she added, can define the terms and the manner of the exercising of these rights in more detail through bylaws.

– From the beginning of 2019, an employer can be exempt from 100% of the tax on wages and contributions for the founder’s salaries and personal salaries, unless they exceed RSD 37,000 – she said and added that this would pertain to newly founded companies, which can exercise this right in a 12-month period, from the day of the foundation till the end of 2020.

When it comes to suppressing the gray economy, Markovic says that inspectors determined newly detected public income in the amount of RSD 25 million from the beginning of 2018 till mid-December, which is 159% more compared to 2017. In detecting unregistered activities, tax liabilities of 203 million were determined. When it comes to controlling fiscal cash registers, irregularities were detected in 1,588 facilities, amounting to 37.2% of the inspected ones.

Also, she says, a total of 1,339 criminal charges were filed at competent prosecutor’s offices, of which 878 charges against 1,206 persons pertain to the gray economy, making for 65.6% of the total number.

– The tax evasion here amounts to 4.9 billion. Nearly 20 tons of cut and leaf tobacco was confiscated, as well as more than 400,000 packs of cigarettes, 2,500 liters of alcoholic drinks, 70,000 liters of oil products and two tons of coffee, amounting to a total of RSD 77.9 million – Markovic said.

She pointed out that, in 2018, the good cooperation of the Tax Police with the Department for Fighting Organized Crime and the Special Department for Suppressing Corruption of the Ministry of Internal Affairs had resulted in the detection of six organized crime groups, with unpaid taxes amounting to half a billion dinars and a benefit of two billion.

Poreska uprava Srbije

Ministarstvo finansija Republike Srbije

Tax Administration of Serbia

Ministry of Finance

Department for Fighting Organized Crime

Special Department for Suppressing Corruption of the Ministry of Internal Affairs

gray economy

tax exemptions for the economy

tax credit

innovations

salary tax

taxes and contributions

fiscal cash registers

tax evasion