Taxes for craftsmen to be raised 4-fold

The proposal was made by the Ministry of Taxes.

The Ministry of Taxes proposes to raise taxes for craftsmen and those involved in agritourism and ecotourism next year.

The tax for craftsmen and farmstay owners is expected to grow 4- and 12-fold respectively.

According to the newspaper Belorusy i Rynok, taxes for the so called special regimes became a subject of discussion of the interdepartmental working group on simplifying tax legislation headed by first deputy prime minister Vasili Matuisheuski.

The special tax regime includes agritrourism and craft activity. Under current laws, the people involved in such activities pay a tax of one base amount a year. The ministry admits the special taxation scheme boosted the development of such businesses. There were 28 farm hosts in Belarus in 2006 against 2,017 in 2014. However, tax inspectors claim the actual number of people involved in agritourism is only 1,424. In 2006, only 825 people visited farms as tourists, but their number exceeded 300,000 last year.

The Tax Ministry says the situation changed after the tax rate had been changed, so the tax needs to be adjusted. According to the ministry, the tax burden on farmstay owners fell from 2 to 0.26%, or 13-fold, after the special tax scheme was introduced, while their incomes grew 1,900-fold to 102.8 billion rubles. An average farm host pays 16,000 rubles of taxes a month. If farm owners paid the income tax (12%), they would pay 720,000 rubles a month.

There were 8,800 for craftsmen in Belarus at the beginning of the year. Each of them pays 16,000 rubles a month. The ministry offers a softer approach to them. Craftsmen are expected to pay one base amount once a quarter (instead of once a year). The tax won’t be changed for pensioners, which make about 30% of all craftsmen in the country.

The president held a meeting to discuss issues of the taxation policy in the middle of February. It was announced that the taxation system would be changed and benefits would be cancelled. Tax benefits can be applied only to priority industries, Lukashenka said.