TODAY.AZ / Business

Tax revenues to state budget exceeds forecast

14 September 2019 [09:59] - TODAY.AZ

By Azernews

By Leman Mammadova

The elimination of shadow economy has been one of the priorities of Azerbaijan’s domestic policy for many years.

The volume of tax revenues to Azerbaijan’s state budget amounted to about 280 million manats ($164.75 million) in the first half of 2019, exceeding the forecast by 12 percent, Mikayil Jabbarov, Minister of Taxes, said at the conference “Fighting the shadow economy as an important factor in the development of economy” in Baku on September 13.

He noted that this increase is due to the development of the country’s non-oil sector as well as the reforms carried out in the tax sphere and in the economy as a whole, aimed at legalizing business in Azerbaijan.

“The shadow economy leads not only to tax evasion, but also to unfair competition and harassment of legal business,” he added.

Jabbarov further stressed that over 112,000 labor contracts have been concluded in Azerbaijan since early 2019.

“In particular, over 88,000 new labor contracts were concluded in the private sector, which accounts for 78 percent of the total number of contracts,” he said, adding that trade, industry and construction sectors hold main share in the legalization of labor relations.

Jabbarov went on to say that the turnover in the non-oil sector increased by 9.7 percent in the first seven months of 2019. “Moreover, the turnover in the sphere of production and wholesale trade increased by 7.8 percent, in the public catering – by 26.4 percent, and in the retail trade – by 36.3 percent,” he added.

He also said that the largest growth was observed in the turnover of tobacco products – 3.6 times. In addition, the turnover of alcoholic beverages increased by 67.3 percent.

In turn, Safar Mehdiyev, Chairman of the State Customs Committee, said that the volume of revenues to the state budget through the Committee may exceed 4.2 billion manats ($2.47 billion) this year.

He underlined that the Committee plans to exceed the forecasted customs payments to the state budget by 500 million manats ($294.20 million) in 2019.

“The forecast on customs deductions for the current year is 3.7 billion manats ($2.18 billion). This is 1.3 billion manats ($0.76 billion) more compared to 2018. We plan to increase the volume of customs deductions to the state budget by 500 million manats,” he noted.

In turn, Ziyad Samadzade, chairman of the Committee on Economic Policy, Industry and Entrepreneurship of the Azerbaijani Parliament, noted that the unemployment rate in the country dropped to 14 percent from 40-45 percent.

“Today Azerbaijan is implementing various large-scale projects and has transformed from a country taking loans to a country that provides loans to other states,” Samadzade said.

Azerbaijan's tax legislation is undergoing major changes. The new amendments to the Tax Code that came into force on January 1, 2019, cover five directions, including ensuring transparency of taxation, expansion of the taxation base, modernization of tax administration, supporting entrepreneurship development, which is important for both economic development and taxpayers' rights, and the application of tax incentives to increase economic efficiency.

URL: http://www.today.az/news/business/186274.html

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