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Azerbaijan’s national tax system has been modernized in the past 10 years.
Increase of the number of entrepreneurs, the country’s switch to the active development phase from economic point of view necessitated restructuring of tax service activity on modern basis. Technical basis with broad technical capacity has been established in the recent years, Minister of Taxes Fazil Mammadov said at the 3rd Tax Forum entitled “Azerbaijan’s tax system: Realities and prospects” in Baku, APA-Economics reports.
Fazil Mammadov underlined that the new platform, where open discussions are held on tax-related problems, produces efficient results. Broad discussions were held in the previous forums on conformation of the national tax system to the world standards and its improvement on the most modern technological basis, understanding was reached in the issues of mutual interest with the business society. The outcomes of these discussions are reflected in the new policy pursued in the national tax system. It proves once more that this format of the discussions paves the way for the establishment of more efficient tax system for taxpayers, formation of more efficient tax administration for tax bodies, creation of more favorable business environment in the country.
Minister said Azerbaijan’s tax system is capable of offering to the taxpayers most services applied in the world.
“We are trying to establish a system, where a taxpayer can fulfil all tax obligations without coming to the tax office. The Ministry of Taxes is offering more than 50 e-services to the taxpayers. This is the widest e-service collection applied in the country,” he said.
He said as a result of the reforms carried out in the registration of entrepreneurs, Azerbaijan is in the top ten in “Starting a business” index in the Doing Business 2014 report released by the World Bank.
Azerbaijan supports active exchange programs in the tax system. The country has joined the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
As a result of the dialogue with business, relations with taxpayers are being established on new grounds. Partnership agreements are being signed with entrepreneurs. This is a more responsible form of approach based on mutual confidence, a more responsible approach of business to the tax obligations, of tax bodies to the application of new control mechanisms.
Fazil Mammadov said the reforms will be continued for application of modern information technologies in the tax system, expansion of e-services, establishment of partnership between taxpayers and tax bodies. There are plans to create new mechanisms to increase tax control. Work will be continued on the full-scale application of e-audit, regulation of transfer prices and tax control mechanisms on e-commerce.
Minister said 2014 has been declared the Year of Industry. Serious improvement is expected in the development of industry. Creation of technoparks promises significant changes in economy. The individuals and legal entities are freed from taxes for seven years, managing organizations and operators of the parks will enjoy termless tax exemption.
One of the top priorities for Azerbaijan in the coming years is to reduce economy’s dependence on hydrocarbon resources, ensure rapid development of non-oil sector and its leading part industrial sector. All this are among the major goals of Azerbaijan-2020: vision into the future Development Concept and a special presentation will be held during the forum in Baku on the role of tax bodies in the implementation of these projects.
Apa.az
