Inspectors of the Administration of Public Revenue and Customs are checking the operations of the Pljeval municipal company Lokalni putevi due to the suspicion that the company caused damage to the budget of Montenegro in the amount of several hundred thousand euros.
According to unofficial information from "Vijesti", tax inspectors suspect that the damage to the budget has been caused, because for years the company has not calculated value added tax (VAT) on the invoices it issues to the Municipality of Pljevlja for its services.
As "Vijesti" learned, the Security Center of Pljevlja, Department for Economic Crime, is also involved in the investigation, which examines whether there are elements of a criminal offense in the actions of the company's management.
In Local Roads, they confirmed to "Vijesta" that they do not calculate VAT on the invoices they issue to the Municipality, but they claim that the law allows them to do so, given that they are doing work in the public interest.
Tax inspectors entrust the business books of Local Roads for the last six years, during which period, according to their estimates, damage of several hundreds of thousands of euros was caused.
According to the Revenue and Customs Administration, after re-registering as a limited liability company, the company was obliged to calculate value added tax at the rate of 21 percent on its invoices.
Instead, they calculated the zero rate of VAT, as they did in previous years.
According to the available data from the Work Report, Local Roads annually issue invoices for their services to the Municipality of Pljevlja in the amount of 450.000 to half a million euros. If the company, as they believe in the Revenue and Customs Administration, was obliged to calculate VAT at the rate of 21 percent, it is not difficult to conclude that on this basis the state was deprived of around 600 thousand euros in six years.
The local road maintenance company operated as a public company until February 2015 and until then was not obliged to calculate VAT on the invoices it issues to the local government, considering that road maintenance is a service of public interest.
Director of Local Roads Dragan Jovovic He told "Vijesta" that the company has never calculated VAT on the invoices it issues to the local administration and that they have the interpretation of the Ministry of Finance from 2013, which confirms this.
"Taking into account that the maintenance and protection of local roads is a legally established obligation, that funds for these purposes are provided in the budget of the local self-government unit, we consider that these funds have the character of dedicated subsidies and are not subject to the obligation to pay VAT by the Public Enterprise for maintenance and protection of local roads. However, when a public company procures products and services for the maintenance of local roads from the aforementioned funds, those purchases are subject to the obligation to pay VAT", according to the opinion of the Ministry of Finance, which was submitted to the then management of the company in 2013.
This document was signed by the then Assistant Minister of Finance Marina Perovic.
When asked if, after re-registration in 2015, they were obliged to calculate VAT, as claimed by the Revenue and Customs Administration, Jovović said that the legislator did not change anything in that regard and that the law recognizes a zero rate of value added tax for public activities. interest.
"Numerous inspections, including the inspectors of the Tax Administration, have passed through this company, and no one has so far raised any objection because of it. As a company founded by the municipality of Pljevlja, we regularly submit reports on our work to the local administration and councilors, and no one had any objections that VAT was not calculated. They didn't have any objections even in the local administration to which we deliver the invoices. If we were obliged, why wouldn't they calculate VAT. I don't know why someone started this story now," Jovović said.
"Vijesti" was unable to get official information about this case from the local revenue administration, as it is the acting director Milena Petričević ignored the questions of "Vijesti" that were submitted to her seven days ago.
According to unofficial information, other municipal companies that perform activities of public interest regularly calculate VAT on their invoices submitted to the local administration.
"Due to the non-calculation of VAT, Local roads are not competitive with other companies, because these companies have to declare VAT on their invoices, which means that their invoices are increased by the amount of VAT, even though they have the same hourly price for using some of the machines", said the interviewee. News" knowledgeable about this issue.
Tax inspectors are also examining whether there is any fault in the actions of those responsible in the Municipality of Pljevlja, considering that for years they have been receiving and paying invoices to Local Roads without calculating VAT.
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