MINSK, 22 March (BelTA) – The Belarusian Tax and Duties Ministry and the Association of Taxpayers are working to improve IT business taxation, representatives of the Belarusian Tax and Duties Ministry told BelTA.
Established in December 2015, the Association of Taxpayers has come up with proposals to modernize the taxation of the Belarusian companies that export IT services. The relevant request has been signed by the chairperson of the association and is being considered by the Tax and Duties Ministry.
Experts of the Association of Taxpayers believe that the taxation of Belarusian IT companies and their foreign partners require a special approach that takes into account up-to-date international rules of making deals and selling IT services. It also has to take into account the legal nature of public contracts, which are signed by Belarusian IT companies and foreign mediators in most cases.
Speaking about the current situation, Chairwoman of the Association of Taxpayers Lyubov Mironyuk pointed out that the approaches to taxing and carrying out foreign trade deals, national peculiarities of accounting and bookkeeping practices noticeably differ from dynamically developing international rules of concluding deals in the information technology industry. Differences between domestic and international practices prevent Belarusian IT companies, which are bona fide taxpayers, from honoring their commitments. Instead these companies face considerable penalties. An analysis of the situation indicates it is necessary to adjust the legal environment in order to allow Belarusian IT businesses and absolutely any company, which is ready to explore the area of high technologies, to work legally and effectively.
According to representatives of the Tax and Duties Ministry, the suggestions submitted by the Association of Taxpayers provide for some sweeping changes in Belarusian taxation. The changes would affect the retention and transfer of the tax on revenues of foreign companies, which do not operate in Belarus via a permanent representative office. The changes would also affect the tax base and the money spent on taxes as part of the simplified taxation system and the profit tax. The changes would also affect how primary accounting records are issued and how deadlines used for taxation purposes are calculated. Yet representatives of the Ministry believe that the implementation of the suggestions would contribute to the development of the Belarusian IT industry in addition to making its operation more transparent and simpler.
Increasing the amount of foreign currency Belarus gets is one of the tasks the planned modernization of the Belarusian taxation system is supposed to achieve. It is particularly important in view of the growing share of the export of computer services in the country's foreign trade. In 2005 the export of IT services was less than $50 million. In 2015 the figure exceeded $800 million and continues growing. Thanks to IT companies as well as trucking companies and some other hard-currency earners Belarus' foreign trade in services has been demonstrating a surplus for several years already.
Representatives of the Association of Taxpayers and the Tax and Duties Ministry believe that taking into account the complexity of improving the taxation of Belarusian IT companies the work may take several years. In order to factor in all the pros and cons from the start, the sides intend to invite a large number of specialists representing small and medium IT companies, who are ready to share their experience and contribute to legislation development, to take part in the discussion.
