Mugoša: The Tax Administration collected almost 1,1 billion euros in taxes

The total gross collection achieved last year amounted to almost 1,1 billion euros, which is seven percent less compared to 2019, announced the director of the Tax Administration (TA), Miomir M. Mugoša, and added that the result was significantly above expectations.

In an interview with the Mina-business agency, he said that the collection plan for last year, drawn up after the budget rebalancing at the end of June, exceeded 65 million euros.

"Taking into account the circumstances in which both the economy and PU have been operating since the beginning of the pandemic of the infectious disease Covid-19, the achieved result significantly exceeds our expectations, and supports the efforts of all our services to ensure a high degree of efficiency in PU work despite the challenges", said Mugosha.

Speaking about the collection structure, he stated that 79,54 million euros of corporate profit tax was collected, which is 4,5 million euros more than in 2019, and 12 million euros more than planned, which is an indicator of a high level of tax culture in the corporate sector. sector, which, despite the challenges in business, maintained the regularity of settling that type of tax.

"When it comes to value added tax (VAT), PU is facing the biggest challenges in collecting this type of revenue, which is a direct consequence of the economic crisis caused by the pandemic of the infectious disease Covid-19, due to which even the summer tourist season did not meet expectations and which resulted in a drastic drop in turnover in all industries, especially the hospitality and hotel industry," said Mugoša.

Thus, last year the total collection of VAT amounted to 244,51 million euros, which is 44,5 million euros less than in 2019 and 15,5 million euros below the plan, as a result of a drastic drop in turnover in all activities.

"Analyzing the structure of revenue collection, it can be seen that the segment is heavily affected by the pandemic and the area of ​​labor relations, i.e. taxes and contributions on employees' wages. On this basis, since the beginning of last year, a collection in the amount of 709,2 million euros has been realized, which is about 23 million euros less than in 2019, and 53 million euros over the plan," specified Mugoša.

The collection of real estate sales tax amounted to 15,53 million euros, which is five million euros less than in 2019, and concession fees amounted to 32,36 million euros, that is, seven million euros less than in 2019.

Mugoša, talking about solving the problem of tax debt collection, said that efficient management of tax debt is a priority task of the PU, which they deal with on a daily basis, both from the aspect of individual taxpayers, and from the aspect of the structure of tax debt.

"The set of measures that we have been implementing since 2017 through the Plan for managing tax debt and strengthening collection measures has so far produced extremely good results, as evidenced by the fact that we reduced the level of overdue tax claims by 210 million euros by the beginning of last year, and that through various mechanisms initiated collection even at those companies where no measures had any effect for years", said Mugoša.

He recalled the example of Pljevlja Coal Mine, which at the beginning of 2017 had a tax debt of 13,5 million euros, and which through reprogramming paid off 10,5 million euros, ensuring the survival of the company, stabilization of operations and servicing and current obligations based on taxes and contributions in the amount of over 40 million euros in the past four years.

"Also, I have to point out the example of Montenegro Airlines (MA), as a taxpayer that is at the top of the list of tax debtors, with whom we ensured the collection of over 14 million euros last year," added Mugoša.

According to him, the pandemic of the infectious disease Covid-19 last year certainly had an impact on the activities and efforts of the PU to further reduce the tax debt, especially bearing in mind that the application of the Regulation on the conditions for deferring the collection of overdue tax and non-tax claims, which adopted as part of the package of rehabilitation measures at the beginning of the pandemic, resulted in the postponement of the collection of tax and non-tax claims of almost 46 million euros.

"With the hope that this year will be marked by the end of the pandemic, I expect that the PU, by further implementing all the measures provided for in the Tax Debt Management Plan and strengthening collection measures, will continue to further reduce the tax debt, but also prevent the accumulation of new due and unpaid claims to the greatest extent possible ", Mugoša announced.

Commenting on the application of the Law on fiscalization in the circulation of products and services, he said that electronic fiscalization, as the fourth component of the Tax Administration Reform project, financed through a loan from the World Bank, represents one of the most important projects implemented over the past ten years, not only in the Tax Administration, but also in the field of public finances in general

"The project is one of the most important, both because of the fact that it represents a huge step forward in the digitalization of our society, and because of the expected effects in connection with the establishment of a system for effective monitoring of the regularity of the entire economy," Mugoša announced.

The expected benefits of the Law on fiscalization in the circulation of products and services and the electronic fiscalization project are two-fold and relate to, as he specified, more effective monitoring of the regularity of business operations, directing supervision efforts to high-risk taxpayers and therefore better collection of budget revenues, but no less and on improving the business environment by sanctioning unfair competition on the Montenegrin market.

"The need to protect businessmen who properly report and settle their tax obligations is particularly evident during the current economic crisis caused by the pandemic of the infectious disease Covid-19, due to which businessmen who, despite difficulties in business, strive to comply with their legal obligations to pay taxes, are under special attack," he said. Mugosha.

The data that PU obtained through the testing phase of the electronic fiscalization system, as well as the knowledge they have regarding the offer of technical solutions on the IT market, speak in favor of the views on the feasibility of the project.

Speaking about PU projects this year, Mugoša said that regardless of the further course of the pandemic and the challenges faced by the private and public sector, the Tax Administration will continue with the implementation of important projects and strategic tasks with the planned dynamics.

"Thus, further implementation of the electronic fiscalization project will be a special priority in our work, as well as the implementation of the Tax Administration Reform project, through which we expect to select a company responsible for the procurement of an integrated information system this year, as the most important output of this project," he said. is Mugoša.

He concluded that through cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), further implementation of good international practice will continue in key business areas, especially in the field of inspection supervision, which will undergo a significant organizational and functional reorganization with the aim of more effective control of the accuracy of calculations, reporting and tax payments from taxpayers.