Tax office Ilidža must return nearly 44,000 KM in unlawfully collected fees to Premier betting shop

The Cantonal Court of Sarajevo ruled that the Tax office Ilidža must return almost 44,000 KM to Premier betting shop, because the way communal fees were collected from betting shops in 2006 was discriminatory, contrary to the laws and the Constitution of the Federation.

The Tax office Ilidža did not comply with the initial verdict of the Cantonal Court of Sarajevo, but instead tried to retroactively, under the Communal Fees Act from 2012, impose communal fees for 2006 on betting shops, but the Federal Ministry of Finance upheld the betting shops' appeal and annulled such a decision by the Tax office Ilidža.

The return of the money is not straightforward. Premier explains that the Tax office Ilidža, in its latest statement, declared itself incompetent to return the money, even though it had previously collected the money from the betting shops.

- The Federal Ministry of Finance upheld our appeal against such a reaction from the Tax office Ilidža. The Tax Administration of the FBiH also adopted the position that the Tax office Ilidža is competent to return the collected funds - Premier stated. This legal dispute lasted for ten years.

- Justice in the FBiH is slow, but it is achievable. To this day, there are more than a hundred similar verdicts, which confirm that local authorities cannot discriminate against gambling operators. Everyone, including local authorities, must respect the Constitution of the FBiH - Premier stated. Gambling operators remind that a similar situation could befall Zenica, if the Tax office forcibly collects fees from betting shops in this city. At the proposal of the Mayor of Zenica, Fuad Kasumović, the City Council at the end of 2016, by a majority of votes, supported the increase of communal fees up to 50,000 KM for each betting shop operating in Zenica, while the Decision simultaneously does not apply to other businesses operating in Zenica. The decision of the local authorities of Zenica has also ended up before the Constitutional Court of the FBiH. Zenica plans to collect about five million KM annually from betting shops in the name of communal fees. If the process before the Constitutional Court in the case of Zenica were to last three to four years, and the Court's decision afterwards were in favor of the betting shops, Zenica would have to return about 20 million KM to the betting shops, not counting interest and lost profits. This would be a huge blow to the budget that Zenica could not survive.

- Kakanj, Visoko, Bugojno, and Ilidža had to return money collected on the basis of unconstitutional communal fees. Simply put, these local communities calculated communal fees based on the type of activity, meaning they charged higher fees to betting shops and lower fees to other businesses in the same municipality. Such treatment constitutes discrimination. We have a similar situation now in Zenica. We expect the Constitutional Court's decision to be the same as in the cases of Kakanj, Visoko, Bugojno, and now Ilidža - concluded Premier betting shop.