The former director of "Plantaž" Verica Maraš admitted in her statement from the oral hearing about the tax debt to the Municipality of Tuza that they consciously did not correct the irregularity in the valuation of real estate for years because it was convenient for them to pay a smaller amount of tax until last year to the single Municipality of Podgorica, and now to the Capital City. and the Municipality of Tuza.
This can be seen from the signed minutes from this meeting from June 12 this year, but also from the explanation of the tax ruling that the Administration of Local Public Revenues wrote to Tuzi on November 4, which "Vijesti" had access to.
Providing incorrect information to the tax administration in order to pay a lower amount of tax is a criminal offence.
The President of the Municipality of Tuzi, Nik Đeljošaj, told "Vijesta" two days ago that the procedure for forced collection of tax debt from "Plantaž" in the amount of 524 thousand euros was initiated, as well as that "Plantaž" submitted incorrect data in the tax return in order to pay approx. 50 thousand euros instead of the established 624 thousand. He also said that during the oral hearing, the representative of the company said that they did not correct irregularities in the assessment of assets in order to pay a lower amount of tax, but he did not specify who it was.
What is written in the minutes?
The minutes specify that when asked by the Tuzi representative why they stated the lower value of the agricultural land in the tax return, the then director, who was also the only representative of the company at the meeting, answered:
"The value of the property has been shown in this way for years, the books show the estimated value since 1992, when the last property assessment was done. The above-mentioned irregularity, that is, the non-compliance of the estimated value of the base with valid standards, is indicated by the audit in each report. However, it suits the 'Plantations', because we pay a much lower property tax. The best solution is to hire an expert who would do a new valuation of the property, and for both parties to agree on the new price during 2020 or in the future".
Article 264 of the Criminal Code specifies:
"Whoever, with the intention that he or another natural or legal person completely or partially avoids paying taxes, contributions or other prescribed duties, provides false information about legally acquired income, about objects or other facts that have an impact on the determination of such obligations, or who with the same intention, in the case of mandatory reporting, does not report legally acquired income, i.e. items or other facts that have an impact on the determination of such obligations, or who with the same intention in another way conceals data related to the determination of said obligations, and the amount of the obligation whose if the payment is avoided exceeds one thousand euros, he will be punished by imprisonment for up to three years and a fine".
How much the property is worth
For real estate tax, the basis is the value of the real estate. In the tax ruling, it is written that "Plantaže" filed an application on April 21 of this year, in which they stated that their agricultural land in Tuzi of 15,1 million square meters is worth 8,65 million euros or 57 cents per square meter. For this type of property, a tax rate of 0,232 percent is stated, which means that they would pay 20 thousand euros in taxes on this reported amount.
The municipality of Tuzi doubted the accuracy of the data, so they asked Monstat for data on sales contracts for agricultural land in this zone, which the law provides for determining the market value. Based on that, they calculated that the total area is worth 258 million euros, on which a tax of 599.369 euros should be paid, and another 25.008 euros for the rest.
The deadline for payment, after the delay due to the pandemic, was November 30. "Plantaže" paid 624 out of a total of 100 euros of debt, so on December 1, forced collection was initiated for the remaining amount.
They are silent from "Plantaž".
The company "Plantaže" did not answer the questions of "Vijesti" about this tax debt, nor did any of their representatives give a disputed statement, whether the tax service of the Capital City, before the allocation to Tuza, contested the company's tax returns and what the tax amounts were. until now paid by Podgorica. The determination of tax liability expires after five years, which means that the tax returns of "Plantaža" for that period could be corrected.
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