VIRON YRITYSTEN LAAJA VEROHUIJAUS PALJASTUNUT

Tax authority: only 10% of companies in VAT register pay VAT
13.05.2013, 10:18

According to statistics from the tax authority, only 10% of companies in Estonia that are registered to pay VAT to the state, ie they receive less VAT than they pay themselves, writes Äripäev.

Marek Helm, head of the tax authority and his deputy Egon Veermäe admit that they were shocked by such statistics.

A new report from the tax authority shows that out of 72,000 companies that are registered as VAT-payers, 5,690 companies paid any VAT last year in the total amount of EUR 2.08 billion.

The rest of the companies in the VAT register either pay very little VAT while a third of them receive VAT refunds from the state.

According to Veermäe, these 5,690 companies also fund VAT repayments to these companies that pay more VAT than they receive.

“Figuratively speaking, we are in a situation where a handful of enterprises create added value and one-third of enterprises receive a subsidy from the state in the form of VAT,” said Veermäe.

Marek Helm added that it was common for businessmen to use various schemes to avoid paying tax, either by using off-the-shelf companies, do business only in cash without issuing receipts or accounting for costs that are actually not eligible for business purposes.

Commenting the news, Finance Minister Jürgen Ligi said that he was not surprised over such statistics.

“The situation is very serious and, because of the fraud, it is fair competition that is being affected and effectively kills any attempts to lower the tax burden of taxpayers,” he said.

ÄRIPÄEV EESTI