Control of excise products and collection of taxes and contributions is a priority

Trade in products with excise stamps and the regularity of tax and contribution payments in addition to net earnings will in the coming period be under the special attention of the competent state authorities, announced the director of the Tax Administration Milan Lakićević after the meeting of the Committee for Suppression of the Gray Economy, where the results of the Action Plan for Suppression of the Shadow Economy were analyzed occurrences.

"In the coming period, we will focus on certain segments of the gray economy, namely trade in excise goods, where significant irregularities have been noticed. There will be a special emphasis on the work of flea markets and free shops. We will focus the campaign on the record of the regularity of net salary payments so that businessmen accept the fact that salaries are paid with taxes and contributions. In this way, we will increase fiscal discipline and enable solving not only fiscal but also social problems. A number of employers do not pay taxes and contributions, which is why workers suffer losses in terms of connecting health and pension insurance," said Lakićević.

He announced changes to the law on personal income tax in order to regulate the regularity of the payment of net earnings and related contributions on a monthly basis with the submission of tax returns.

"Any payment of net earnings without filing a report is tax evasion and a criminal offense. In the coming period, we will sanction those who break the law, not only in the area of ​​misdemeanor but also criminal liability," Lakićević said.

As he added, from the beginning of the year until the middle of November, 98 million more were collected than last year, and that for the first time, more income was generated compared to the budget plan and that they expect that trend to continue until the end of the year.

"We will have a precise analysis of how much this collection is the result of the gray struggle to suppress the gray economy, and how much is due to new tax rates. Higher collection is not only the result of higher tax rates," Lakićević pointed out.

He announced that he will soon publish a new assessment of the tax debt, which according to the latest data is around 330 million euros, and that they have not analyzed how many taxpayers will use the incentive measure to pay the principal of the tax debt with interest write-off.