Aluminij requests VAT refund from Indirect Taxation Authority of BiH

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Mostar-based Aluminij has submitted a request for a VAT refund from the Indirect Taxation Authority of BiH, but the amount of money is not yet known.

Aluminij did not wish to disclose information about how much money they expect from the VAT refund, nor whether that money would be sufficient to cover the next salary for about 900 employees of the company, considering that the VAT refund from the Indirect Taxation Authority is being mentioned as one of the options for how the next salary for Aluminij employees will be paid, after the factory ceased operations.

"The taxpayer Aluminij from Mostar submitted a VAT return for June 2019 on 10.07.2019, in which it declared a tax credit. The following day, i.e., 11.07.2019, the aforementioned taxpayer submitted an amended VAT return for June 2019, in which it requested a VAT refund," the News Agency Patria was told by the Indirect Taxation Authority. The Authority notes that the legal procedure for VAT refund states that companies that are predominantly exporters and submit a VAT return requesting a VAT refund must receive it within 30 days from the date of submitting the VAT return in which they requested the refund.

"In this specific case, the aforementioned VAT taxpayer will receive the VAT refund within the deadlines defined by legal and sub-legal acts. The amount of the requested refund can only be stated by the company Aluminij, as it concerns confidential data, which the ITA cannot disclose to any third party without the consent of the specific taxpayer," the written response from the Authority states.
Aluminij d.d. Mostar ceased operations on June 10 due to a debt of 400 million KM, of which nearly 300 million KM was for electricity.