Krstic announces depolitisation of Tax Administration

BELGRADE - Serbian Finance Minister Lazar Krstic announced on Thursday that the Tax Administration will be depolitised, noting that the institution was used as a political instrument in the past.

Krstic opened the two-day General Assembly of the Intra-European Organisation of Tax Administrations (IOTA), during which he presented the plan of the Finance Ministry to reorganise the Tax Administration, which also entails a change in legal regulations and reform of its organisation.

Recalling that the Serbian government was set up only three months ago, Krstic said that the biggest challenges the government is currently facing comprise a poor financial situation, high budget deficit and public debt that exceeds 60 percent of the GDP.

The government created a fiscal consolidation programme which entails a reduction of expenditures and the work on building institutional capacities so that the revenues, primarily taxes and customs duties, could produce tangible results, Krstic said.

This is why the government should try to change the concept of tax administration and make it a citizen-oriented service instead of a government body in charge of sanctioning tax payers, he said.

He noted that the reform of Tax Administration is based on depolitisation, strengthening of its basic functions, personnel potentials and mechanisms for employee promotion. This is an ambitious plan and the process is lengthy so we do not expect prompt results, Krstic said.

The topic of the 18th IOTA General Assembly covers cooperation with tax payers and usage of data and activities to ensure respect of regulations.

This year, Serbia holds the chair in the IOTA General Assembly for the first time and the gathering comprises...