New Year's surprise: Tax Code amended retrospectively

Nobody asked the opinion of the business community again.

“The Belarusian authorities continue to issue retrospective amendments to the tax legislation in 2014,” Siarhei Balykin, the head of the Association of Small and Medium-Sized Business, said in an interview with BelaPAN news agency.

The important amendments to the Tax Code and other regulatory acts on taxation, as well as amendments to the law on the republican budget for 2014 were officially published on January 2, but came into force a day before.

“The important tax laws took force retrospectively. The president signed them on December 31, thus violating his own directive No. 4 demanding to inform economic agents about amendments to laws in advance and publish the amendments at least 3 months prior to their entry into force,” the expert said.

According to him, even a quick analysis of the published regulatory acts shows they seriously change conditions for economic agents. “I mean the changes in the order of paying the income tax, the changes patent fee rates and the order of declaring VAT, and of course, the notorious transport duty – the duty for letting vehicles the access to public roads,” the head of the Association of Small and Medium-Sized Business said.

He stressed the amendments required a serious examination by directors and accountants of economic entities.

“But the state didn't give them this opportunity again. By a sad tradition, they changed the tax legislation retrospectively,” the expert noted. “We don't blame officials for their refusal to discuss the amendments with the business community. But simple rules of politeness suppose giving business an opportunity to study the rules of the game and choose a strategy in advance.”

“We cannot speak about civilised conditions for business in the country without fulfilling these elementary rules,” the head of the Association of Small and Medium-Sized Business said.