Countering grey economy to bring in EUR 100 million

BELGRADE - Budget revenues could increase by EUR 100 million by the end of the year by countering grey economy, Serbian State Secretary in the Finance Ministry Nikola Corsovic said on Monday.

This will be achieved by more numerous controls and inspectors, and the amendments to the tax laws should also increase the fees for tax evasion as of July 1, Corsovic said at a seminary on grey economy organised by the Media Association.

The amendments to the Law on Tax Procedure and Tax Administration will envisage that the owner of a business who has not issued a fiscal receipt shall close his shop for seven days for the first time of the offence and in case the offence is repeated, the shop will be closed for 14 days, he said and added that the third time the offence occurs, the shop would be closed for 30 days which would mark the end of the business operation for the company.

The number of controls will increase by 8 to 10 times and the number of inspectors would be upped four times, he said.

”The assessments are wrong according to which the budget is losing billions of dinars due to grey economy, but if the stake of grey economy was to be reduced, we could achieve additional EUR 500 to 700 million worth of revenues, which would be equal to 1.3 to 1.7 per cent of the GDP,” Corsovic said.

He said that the planned consolidated deficit of Serbia for 2014 adds up to 7.1 per cent of the GDP, which means that countering grey economy would certainly help reduce deficit.

Corsovic said that the planned short-term measures would cover five areas, the first being issuing of the fiscal receipts and unregistered work, the second covering reinforced control of risky industries such as transport companies and food...