UPFBiH asks delegates of the House of Peoples of BiH Parliament to support postponement of VAT payment deadline

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The Association of Employers of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is asking delegates of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH to support amendments to the Law on Value Added Tax of BiH, in terms of extending the deadline for submitting the VAT return and payment, which was previously adopted by the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament.

This is a request signed by more than 30,000 business entities from all over BiH.

"Extending the deadline for submitting the VAT return and payment would greatly facilitate business operations for economic entities, and would not affect the VAT collection rate. Therefore, we call on the delegates of the House of Peoples to support the Amendments to the VAT Law, adopted by the House of Representatives, and thus fulfill the obligations undertaken by accepting the Reform Agenda, which defined the adoption of legal solutions to improve the business environment," say the UPFBiH.

The UPFBiH reminds that this would be the first measure adopted at the level of BiH aimed at mitigating the negative economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. Postponing the deadline would have a positive impact on the liquidity of economic entities.

They also point out that the current deadline for submitting the VAT return and paying VAT by the 10th of the month for the previous month is too short. They remind that if a taxpayer does not submit the return within the legally prescribed period, in addition to a fine, there are also other negative consequences for business operations. By postponing the payment deadline, employers will be able to better control their cash flow.

The UPFBiH reminds the delegates of the House of Peoples that the proposed solution is fully aligned with the Council of the European Union Directive on the common system of value added tax.

"The deadline for submitting VAT returns in BiH is the shortest in Europe. The most common deadline is 20-30 days, and in some countries it is even longer. We are interested in the reason why this deadline is not as short as in BiH in any country?" ask the employers.

In addition, by postponing the VAT payment deadline from the 10th to the last day of the month, it would align with the provision on the deadline for fulfilling monetary obligations between entrepreneurs in business transactions, which is up to 60 days in both BiH entities. The UPFBiH asks why economic entities should be in a subordinate position compared to the state.

Finally, the UPFBiH points out that the proposed amendments to the VAT Law will not have a negative impact on the liquidity of the budgets of BiH, the entities, and the cantons.