Owners of recreational yachts, even though they pay excise duty on fuel again, continue to pour this fuel in Montenegro, announced the Minister of Finance Aleksandar Damjanović and added that the budget is being filled at a solid pace.
In the Assembly, Damjanović, answering a question from the representative of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), Petar Ivanović, reminded that the Ministry recently brought changes to the regulations which, after 15 years, reinstate the obligation to collect excise duty for fuel for recreational yachts.
"This measure was adopted very thoughtfully and is well measured and contributes to filling the budget and compensating for what the budget loses due to the reduction of excise taxes for other citizens and the economy," said Damjanović.
Ivanović was interested in how much the Ministry of Finance has received from the newly introduced excise duties on yacht fuel to date and whether a cost-benefit analysis was done before making the decision.
Damjanović replied that they could only extract data from 2018, which showed that the state budget lost at least 40 million euros due to the lack of excise duty on recreational yachts.
"If we compare the moment since the regulation came into force, from June 11 to June 24, about 553 thousand liters of fuel were issued, and for the same period in 2019, only 75,9 thousand liters. So, we have issued seven times more liters now, after two years, which means that in just 13 or 14 days, we directly brought in an additional 100 thousand euros to the budget from only two customs offices", specified Damjanović.
When we add to that the quantities issued in the other two branches, it can be concluded that a good part of yacht owners decided to continue refueling in Montenegro, regardless of the introduced excise tax.
"These yacht owners showed that their goal was not only to come to Montenegro to refuel without excise duty, but to enjoy the beauty a bit. We have to keep reality in mind. It is not populism if I say that solidarity is necessary for those who have and who can and who earn more, with other citizens," said Damjanović.
He noted that owners of recreational yachts can certainly use the convenience of paying for fuel with a reduced excise duty of 50 percent like everyone else.
Citizens to shop where fiscal invoices are issued
Damjanović told citizens today to shop where they are issued fiscal invoices, stating that there are enough legal and fiscally responsible service providers that you can go to them.
He said that a much bigger problem is that some entities have introduced fiscalization, but do not issue invoices.
"If they don't give a fiscal bill, don't pay it. Somewhere it will happen that, in popular terms, maybe one of the owners will kill himself with a guest. It won't be nice for Montenegro and I appeal that such things don't happen, but let it happen if necessary, so that the light turns on for all of us to be aware that we don't go to bars where they won't issue us a fiscal bill, because then they stole both us and the country and made us fools and idiots. There is no reason to do that," Damjanović said in the Assembly in response to parliamentary questions.
The representative of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), Miomir M. Mugoš, was interested in how much tax revenues, specifically value added tax (VAT), increased last year due to the application of electronic fiscalization and how many taxpayers registered for the electronic fiscalization system.
Damjanović assessed that fiscalization, as a serious project, took off properly.
He said that as of June 28, 29,02 taxpayers were registered in the electronic fiscalization system.
There are 43,83 thousand electronic payment devices in the system, through which invoices are issued and traffic is recorded.
When talking about budget revenues, the net collection based on VAT last year amounted to 691,95 million euros, which is 162,2 million or 30,6 percent more compared to 2020, while compared to the planned more by 80,1 million or 13,1 percent.
Damjanović, speaking about the tourist season, said that the Revenue and Customs Administration (UPC) is facing a serious task, citing as an example that a large part of the income from issuing beach furniture is not taxed.
"Appeal to the UPC to know what the focus is. Also, the focus is on the fiscalization of private accommodation providers. There is by far the greatest tax potential, and I am convinced that, if it were fully utilized, there would be almost no need for any additional borrowing by Montenegro for some urgent matters," asserts Damjanović.
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