Deputies ratified the agreement on the general principles of taxation of indirect taxes in the SG
December 20, MINSK. The deputies at the meeting of the ninth session of the House of Representatives of the seventh convocation adopted the draft law "On ratification of the Treaty between the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation on the general principles of taxation of indirect taxes", BelTA has learned.
In order to approximate the legislations of the member states of the Union State in the tax sphere, on October 3, 2022, an agreement was signed in Moscow between the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation on the general principles of taxation for indirect taxes. The main goal of the signed document is the harmonization of the tax legislation of the two countries, as well as the deepening of cooperation in the tax sphere."The agreement provides for the procedure for amending the list of excisable goods, the rates of excises, the lists of exemptions for excises and VAT, the list of persons exempt from VAT, the list of transactions subject to VAT at reduced and zero rates, the approaches to indexation of excise rates are determined, and the 2023, the maximum amount of revenue (income) that allows you not to pay VAT, - said Svetlana Bartosh, a member of the Standing Committee on Budget and Finance of the House of Representatives, - By January 1, 2023, countries must bring their tax legislation regarding the procedure for collecting value added tax and excises in accordance with the terms of the treaty."
Thus, excise rates for the minimum list of goods and services specified in the contract must not be lower than the minimum rates specified in the appendix to the document. "The minimum list of excisable goods includes the main categories of excisable goods - ALCOHOL products, tobacco and tobacco products, motor gasoline, diesel fuel and motor oils. The contract also establishes minimum excise rates for alcohol and tobacco products and petroleum products. At the same time, for the Republic of Belarus a phased increase in the excise rate on tobacco products is envisaged," the deputy specified.
The terms of the agreement stipulate that the main VAT rate should be at least 20%, and the reduced rate - at least 10%. At the same time, the agreement establishes the right of the parties to raise the specified VAT rates, including in relation to certain transactions (turnovers) or categories of taxpayers. In addition, lists of transactions (turnovers) that are exempt from VAT or subject to VAT at a reduced tax rate are established for the two countries.
The agreement defines the procedure and conditions for providing Belarus with interstate budgetary transfers to compensate for the losses of Belarusian refineries from the tax maneuver. At the same time, the provision of transfers is determined based on the maximum annual volume of oil refining in the amount of 18 million tons in equal shares during the year (1.5 million tons per month) without reference to the actual volumes of processed oil.
According to the terms of the agreement, it is planned to create an integrated system for the administration of indirect taxes. This information system will be developed by the Russian side and transferred to the Belarusian tax authorities for free use. The system will enter information on the transactions of VAT taxpayers of the two countries registered with the tax authorities as of January 1, 2023. The software system will automatically compare information on purchases and sales made by taxpayers of the parties with information from VAT tax returns in order to identify discrepancies, form successive chains of transactions (business transactions) in which discrepancies in VAT are identified, signs of evasion schemes from its payment,
“In addition, within the framework of the agreement, it is planned to create a supranational tax committee that will monitor compliance by the parties with the established agreements,” added Svetlana Bartosh. “The implementation of the agreement is in the economic interests of the Republic of Belarus.”