(Patria) - The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina filed a lawsuit against the entity Republika Srpska and the Management Board of the Indirect Taxation Authority with the Court of BiH in July this year, and the FBiH is represented in this process by the Federal Attorney's Office.
The lawsuit was filed due to unjust enrichment of RS, to the detriment of FBiH. Through the lawsuit, the Federation of BiH claims 73,206,821.44 KM.
As stated in the lawsuit, Article 21 of the Law on the Indirect Taxation System in BiH stipulates the method of revenue distribution from the Single Account based on indirect taxes. Paragraph 3 of the same article stipulates that: "The portion of the remaining amount transferred to the Federation and Republika Srpska is determined based on their share in final consumption shown in value added tax returns."
The Rulebook on the calculation of coefficients (temporary distribution coefficient) for allocation to entities stipulates that the distribution of the remaining amount of indirect taxes between entities is carried out based on temporary coefficients determined quarterly by the Management Board of the ITA.
The lawsuit, which Patria has seen, explains that the proposal of coefficients for temporary quarterly distribution and decisions on determining temporary and final settlements are prepared and submitted to the Management Board of the ITA by the Macroeconomic Analysis Department (OMA), which is one of the organizational units of the ITA.
"Contrary to the aforementioned provisions of the law and the rulebook, for the period 01.01.-31.12.2023 and 01.01.-31.12.2024, the Management Board of the ITA made only one decision on determining temporary coefficients for the distribution of funds from the Single Account, specifically for Q3 (July-September), according to which decision revenue distribution is still being carried out today.
The Management Board of the ITA did not make decisions on determining temporary quarterly coefficients for the quarters (October-December 2023) and (January-March, April-June, July-September, October-December 2024), nor decisions on temporary settlements and final settlement, which resulted in the application of temporary coefficients that do not correspond to the actual shares of the entities in final consumption for 2023 and 2024.
The Management Board of the ITA failed to perform its legally prescribed duty, even though all calculations were submitted in a timely manner by OMA. Such an omission directly resulted in damage, establishing the liability of the Management Board of the ITA," the lawsuit states.
Stenographic records from the sessions in 2023 and 2024 were submitted as evidence.
Although OMA's proposals were submitted, the Management Board did not include them on the agenda of the sessions, and if they had, they were not supported by representatives in the ITA Management Board from Republika Srpska without any argument or objection to the submitted calculations, explains the federal attorney in the lawsuit.
"This situation led to a surplus of funds allocated to Republika Srpska to the detriment of FBiH in the total amount of 73,206,821.40 KM, and the lawsuit notes that the amount will be finally determined after an expert financial assessment.
The sole reason for not adopting the temporary quarterly coefficients for distribution is the obstruction coming from the members of the ITA Management Board from Republika Srpska, all with the aim of preventing the collection of these legally prescribed revenues at a time when the data showed an increase in the Federation's share in final consumption.
RS was unjustly enriched during 2023 and 2024 by receiving larger amounts of revenue from the Single Account, and such enrichment is not based on law, a decision of a competent authority, a contract, principles of fairness, or any legally relevant basis, causing FBiH to suffer concrete material damage."
The lawsuit further states that the BiH Constitution clearly stipulates that entities must not obstruct full cooperation between entities and BiH institutions in any way, and in this case, it is a violation of this constitutional norm.
"Within the meaning of Article 210 of the Law on Obligations, Republika Srpska acquired property benefits without a legal basis, as by not making decisions on the settlement of indirect tax revenue distribution, it retained a larger amount of funds than it would have been entitled to according to the actual economic indicators of final consumption."
The Federal Attorney's Office proposes that the Court, after the proceedings are completed, issue a verdict stating that RS acquired property benefits without a legal basis in the amount of 73,206,821.40 KM.
"The Management Board of the Indirect Taxation Authority is ordered to make decisions on the final settlement of indirect tax distribution for 2023 and 2024 within 30 days of the verdict being rendered.
"If the Management Board of the ITA does not comply within the given deadline, the ITA is ordered to transfer funds from the current indirect tax revenues from the ITA's single account belonging to RS to the Federation of BiH's account in the amount of 73,206,821.40 KM, along with the corresponding legal default interest from the date the obligation became due until the date of transfer."
Otherwise, the Management Board of the ITA BiH consists of Srđan Amidžić, Chairman of the Management Board and Minister of Finance and Treasury of BiH, Toni Kraljević, Minister of Finance of FBiH, Zora Vidović, Minister of Finance of RS, Jelena Popović, expert from Republika Srpska, Zijad Krnjić, expert from FBiH, while there is no expert from the Council of Ministers of BiH.
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