The BAG Committee for Tax and Customs Summarizing the Results of Works on the Tax Code

12 Oct '10

On October 12 at 14:00 the BAG's Committee for Tax and Customs held the presentation at Courtyard Marriott Hotel. The Committee presented the report on its annual activities and achievements. The Committee, staffed with the representatives of the Association's member companies, has been actively cooperating with the Ministry of Finance of Georgia, Office of the Prime Minister and Financial-Budgetary Committee of the Parliament of Georgia for one year already; from the very beginning it has been involved in the course of working on the tax code and was one of the active members of the working group set up at the Prime Minister's initiative.
Initiatives and comments on the new tax code developed within the working group were submitted to the MoF and in certain cases were reviewed directly by the Prime Minister or Chairman of the Financial and Budgetary Committee of the Parliament. Over hundred comments and suggestions have been submitted in this process, out of which about 60% were finally incorporated in the Code, 5% of the comments were partly considered and 35% were not taken into account.
According to the Committee's Chairman Zurab Lalazashvili, the working format turned out to be successful and more than one important issues have been incorporated in the Code. However it is still early to make an overall evaluation of the tax code yet, since its values and shortcomings will be revealed only after a certain period of time. Furthermore, joint works with the Ministry of Finance on respective bylaw normative acts have started after the approval of the Code which in practical terms is equally important.
The President of the Business Association, Mr. George Chirakadze evaluated the process of cooperation on the tax code as successful and emphasized that similar type of cooperation will become even more productive in the future.
As assessed by the Association's Vice President Mr. George Isakadze, the Tax Code effective as of 1st of January is far from being ideal and needs more sophistication which will be achieved in the working format and both the Business Association of Georgia as well as the Georgian Association for SMEs will take active part in this process.