Measures implemented by the government aimed at combating tax evasion have born their first fruit, Prime Minister Robert Fico said at a press conference on October 5.
“Today we can say that our aim to catch at least 10 percent of cases involving tax fraud and tax evasion has been met,” he said, as quoted by the TASR newswire. “For the past two months we’ve managed to collect €210 million more on taxes than estimated.”
As added by Finance Minister Peter Kažimár, also speaking at the press conference, the greatest achievements in this respect were in the collection of VAT. “For the first time in seven years, we’ve managed to improve VAT collection,” he said, citing figures recorded over the past two months. Kažimír added that while €130 million was secured from VAT collection, another €60 million came from income tax imposed on legal entities and €20 million in consumer taxes.
Kažimír also revealed that as of next year, the government is planning to introduce yet another package of measures set to improve further tax collection. “We are set to usher in a ‘hammer on tax evasion’ as considers VAT in January 2014,” the finance minister said. “We will pay particular attention to so-called carousel fraud [wherein VAT can be collected on goods and services not rendered]. In addition, we will introduce an electronic VAT statement and assess the results of the state receipt lottery.”
Kažimír said it is necessary to wait for the so-called flash estimate of the Statistics Office on third quarter economic growth. Only then, will it be clear to what extent the improved numbers result from better tax collection or improved economic growth, according to SITA.
(Source: TASR, SITA)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
