Bill: VAT refund to economic agents in Gagauzia to be made from autonomy budget

Chisinau, July 18. /MOLDPRES/- The head of the Economy, Budget and Finance Parliamentary Committee, Radu Marian, held a press conference today. He announced the registration of a draft law, which would make the relationship between the national public budget and the budget of the Gagauz autonomy more fair.

"The Gagauz budget is formed from the revenues of legal entities operating in the autonomy, VAT, excises and taxes paid by economic agents on territory, or, the region enjoys a certain budgetary autonomy. However, there are situations when economic agents can benefit from the refund of value added tax from the budget and unclearly, based on the principle of local budgetary autonomy, the VAT refund to economic agents in Gagauzia is made from the national public budget. This means that the taxpayer from Gagauzia is refunded the VAT not from the regional budget, but from the state budget", he said.

The provision was introduced in 2004, during the communist government, but only in the last five years, the central budget reimbursed the Gagauz autonomy over 640 million lei as a VAT refund. "The bill I will register comes to solve this inequity. We will complete article 6 of the Fiscal Code with a provision that will stipulate that the restitution of taxes and duties, especially VAT, to economic agents in Gagauzia will be made from the budget of the autonomy, within the available income. The sums not covered by restitution will be paid through transfers with a special purpose from the state budget", he said.

By adopting the draft law, over the next five years, savings to the national budget of over five hundred million lei are anticipated, money that will be able to be invested throughout the country, not just in a single administrative-territorial unit. 

Photo: Facebook Radu Marian