13:50, 07 октября 2021, Bishkek - 24.kg news agency , Tatyana KUDRYAVTSEVA
«There were fierce debates during the discussion of the new version of the Tax Code,» Gulnara Uskenbaeva, head of the Association of Suppliers, said at a press conference today.
According to her, the state is confident that the new version is a good Tax Code. Businesses have different opinions on certain provisions, but it should be kept in mind that the Tax Code cannot be liked by everyone.
«Many of our proposals were accepted during the discussion, but not all. For example, the Tax Service retained the functions of inquiry on tax offenses. This is a kind of risk for us. It’s all pretty complicated. This issue will probably also be discussed in the Parliament. In any case, we can say that the new Tax Code is better than the current one for small businesses. Finally, we equated our manufacturers with trading companies. Half of the members of our association are local producers, the support of whom is declared by the state. The other half are distributors, who import goods. Throughout the entire period of the current Tax Code, we have been struggling to equate manufacturers with distributors in terms of sales tax. This is important because producers were paying twice as much sales tax. Finally, the state heard us and provided support,» Gulnara Uskenbaeva said.
The expert expressed her gratitude to international donors, whose specialists helped officials to prescribe a simple mechanism for VAT refunds on exports. She also called it positive that the registration threshold for value added tax (VAT) has increased from 8 to 30 million soms in the new version of the Tax Code. Gulnara Uskenbaeva stressed that the business asked for an increase not because of unwillingness to pay VAT, but because of the complexity of its administration.
«It will be easier for micro-businesses to operate and pay taxes. I would like to note that the Tax Code is the first step. The main problem of small business is administration, those forms of tax reporting in which everything is complicated. Now it is important not to forget the President’s message on simplifying tax procedures when bringing the bylaws in line with the new version of the Tax Code,» she concluded.