Montenegro is preparing for the European Union (EU) taxation system, Fiscalis 2020, in order to facilitate and speed up the fight against tax fraud and the gray economy.
The EU implements the Fiscalis 2020 program, which enables tax administrations to exchange information and expertise, connect national tax officials throughout Europe, as well as jointly develop trans-European information systems, in order to fight tax fraud and the gray economy more strongly, the EU Info Center reports.
In the program, which is worth 234 million euros, in addition to the member states, the candidate countries for EU membership also participate.
Montenegro has been part of that story since 2015, within the framework of Negotiating Chapter 16, which refers to taxation.
Thanks to this, the employees of the Montenegrin Tax Administration (TA) have the opportunity to educate themselves and improve, so that Montenegro is ready to function in the common market of Europe and connect with systems, through which tax administrations across Europe will communicate more easily and quickly, work more efficiently administrative cooperation and assistance.
Robert Rajković, who is in charge of the development, maintenance and security of IT systems in the PU, had the opportunity to participate in the Fiscalis 2020 program in a project related to strengthening IT technology and infrastructure, as well as a project to improve the common communication network between EU member states.
"By participating in the Fiscalis 2020 program, I gained experience in organizing important projects on the development of IT systems, recognizing potential risks in the field of their implementation, and what is most important - experience that I can use in the preparation of the future information system of the Tax Administration, so that it can later be easier to connect with the trans-European information system", said Rajković for the EU Info Center.
Also, Rajković participated in workshops, where he acquired skills important for the improvement of the system of automatic exchange of information, which translated into the language of ordinary users means better administrative cooperation of tax administrations throughout the EU and assistance in cross-border cooperation in order to prevent double taxation, tax fraud, money laundering money and terrorist financing.
"The experience gained will help me in the development of an IT system that enables the collection of information from financial institutions in Montenegro and from other sources and the exchange of information between the state administration bodies of Montenegro, all with the aim of adequately determining tax obligations and providing better and simpler services to taxpayers ", explained Rajković.
He said that it is about the single EU market and different tax systems.
"In such a situation, companies can take advantage of benefits and advantages in another country and try to avoid paying tax obligations in the country where they have their headquarters or generate income through illegal activities," said Rajković.
According to him, the development of trans-European information systems and a common communication network for the needs of state administration bodies of the EU countries significantly improves the process of information exchange, and thus reduces the risk of this type of tax fraud.
Fiscalis 2020, with a total budget of EUR 234,3 million, lasts until next year, and support for its continuation through the next generation of the program has already been provided by the European Commission.
In addition to Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey participate in the program.
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