BAG Hosting a Working Meeting with the Head of Georgia Revenue Service

25 Oct '11

On October 25, at Sheraton Metekhi Palace Hotel, the Head of Georgia Revenue Service, Mr. Jaba Ebanoidze held a working meeting with the members of the Business Association of Georgia intended to familiarize the businessmen with the novelties planned in the taxation field and to review the proposals suggested by the Association regarding the tax legislation. Within the framework of the cooperation established between the BAG and RS, similar meetings have been held regularly. The meetings aim at establishing the dialogue and exchanging the information between business and tax authorities, ultimately serving to the improvement of the tax climate.
Before opening the meeting, the BAG President Mr. George Chirakadze said: "We're glad that the Head of Revenue Service is meeting with the businessmen and that this relationship has recently become increasingly active. The novelties we've been currently hearing about are important for the business and, more importantly it is our joint work. Businessman and government representative sit together and jointly solve the existing problems".
During the meeting it was announced that at the initiative of the Revenue Service, changes in various areas are planned and in particular the procedures and relevant regulation for issuance of a permit for warehouse business are to be simplified, the notion of special trading company to be introduced. Changes and novelties are foreseen on cargo clearance during movement across the Georgian economic border. Namely, it is scheduled to gradually implement electronic service, "distance declaration filing" in the Clearance Economic Zone, electronic reports on offences, reduced bank guarantees (test mode). In addition, the following novelties are planned in the future: in the case of advance declaration, importers will be allowed a 15-day deferment on customs duties; Registration certificates for exporters will be abolished; in the case of re-export 5-day deferment will be enacted which had not been practiced before. One of the issues discussed at the meeting was the changes that are especially important at this stage for the business and that had been initiated by Tax and Customs Committee of the Association, such as tax regulation of the transactions made by the so-called "loyalty (accumulation) cards"; tax regulation of warranty service; how to regulate the use of market price in transactions between related persons.