Government's Empty Promises, Tax Debt of State-Owned Companies in FBiH Grows

(Patria) - Companies majority-owned by the state in the Federation of BiH owed huge amounts in taxes last year, and according to data from the FBiH Tax Administration, the amount is nearly 1.6 billion KM.

According to the financial audit report for 2020, the FBiH Tax Administration issued 47 decisions restricting the disposal of funds in transaction accounts last year, signed an agreement with 25, blocked accounts of 59 taxpayers, 36 are in bankruptcy, one is in liquidation, and measures are not being taken for 9 users because proceedings are ongoing.

At the top of the list of taxpayers undergoing consolidation are Željeznice Federacije BiH (Railways of the Federation of BiH) with a debt at the end of last year of 194,743,570 KM. The railways' debt at the end of 2019 was 199,480,875 KM, showing that this company reduced its debt by only about five million KM in a year.

Behind the railways are the brown coal, lignite, coal, and bauxite mines, with Rudnik mrkog uglja Zenica (Brown Coal Mine Zenica) leading with a total debt of 152,964,981 km at the end of 2020, while the debt a year earlier was 139,716,780 KM, meaning this mine increased its debt by about 13 million KM.

Seven business companies are in the consolidation process, the largest debtor among them being Agrokomerc d.d. Velika Kladuša with a debt of 41,155,719 KM at the end of last year, while Borac konfekcija from Travnik is immediately behind it with a debt of 34,964,913 KM.

The report reminds that, although the FBiH Tax Administration carried out activities to collect debts by applying relief measures for taxpayers majority-owned by the state, the collection of debts from these taxpayers, despite all facilitating measures, had no effect, which is why the debt has only increased over the years and accounts for 52 percent of the debt determined in forced collection.

By applying the measure of restricted disposal of funds in transaction accounts for most taxpayers, the debt in forced collection remained unsettled and constantly grew due to the calculation of default interest. No collection effects were achieved from taxpayers who regularly settle their current obligations, because the collection of debt in forced collection was put on hold and only postponed, regardless of whether current obligations are paid regularly, it was concluded.