OREANDA-NEWS. On February 01, 2007 Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky charged the Ministry for Taxes and Duties to take measures to eliminate “envelope wages”, reported the Official website www.government.by.

“The Ministry needs to take measures to combat violations in wage accounting and tax payments especially by private unitary companies, the Prime Minister said when speaking at a session of the Ministry for Taxes and Duties.

According to Sergei Sidorsky, the transition from the status of an individual entrepreneur to the status of a private unitary company has been difficult. Many private unitary companies have learnt already how to pay smaller taxes. One of the methods is to underdeclare the wages of the personnel. “We cannot allow the wages on the paper are lower than the minimum wage. We will do everything possible so that the operation of private unitary companies should be transparent, Sergei Sidorsky said.

According to him, there is a need to launch an awareness raising campaign. “Citizens need to understand that if they are paid under the counter it means they do not earn their pensions,” the Prime Minister said.

Sergei Sidorsky also pointed to the importance of such campaign among businessmen as well. They should be shown the pluses of working in the status of a legal entity.

Belarus should impose order on tax payments when goods are sold through the Internet, Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky said on February 1 at a session of the board of the Ministry of Taxes and Dues of Belarus.

According to him, the tax bodies should take a more weighted approach to tax inspections. “Detailed inspections should be conducted in those companies where deals are not transparent,” he underlined.

Sergei Sidorsky demanded from the ministry to strengthen control over the turnover of excisable goods.

He stressed the need to continue the work on simplifying the financial accounting system, applying new information technologies and refusing from the paper document circulation to the maximum.

Moreover, Sergei Sidorsky wants the ministry to speed up the work on drafting a Special Part of the Tax Code. The Prime Minister drew attention of tax inspectors to the growing role they play in promoting business environment in small and medium-scale towns. “You should create an enabling microenvironment for business development in small and medium-scale towns,” he said. The Government has done a lot for this purpose. Necessary legal enactments have been passed and unprecedented tax privileges have been given to businessmen. “However, this is only one third of the work; two thirds should be done at the local level,” he underlined. According to the Prime Minister, Belarus has necessary reserves for promoting business activities in small towns.

On the whole, Sergei Sidorsky praised the work of the Belarusian tax bodies in 2007.

The differential income tax scale should be reconsidered in Belarus, Belarusian Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky noted during a session of the Ministry for Taxes and Duties on February 1.

According to the head of Government, the present income tax scale has been valid for 8 years. During this period big changes have taken place in the taxation system; the salaries have increased.

More so, Belarusian workers and highly-skilled professionals (workers, chemists, high-tech specialists and others) have started leaving the country seeking the work abroad. The Prime Minister noted that there is a need to create the salary system which will allow the people to earn well in Belarus. One of the means to do it is to revise some taxation issues.

The shadow business in the construction services industry is estimated at several billions of US dollars, Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky said at a session of the Ministry for Taxes and Duties.

According to him, the financial agencies of the country need to devise a system of measures to legalize the shadow business, first of all, in the construction industry. Referring to the data of the State Control Committee, Sergei Sidorsky said that up to 80% of the window making is illegal. Apartment renovation services are provided by the people who are not registered as entrepreneurs or legal entities. The Prime Minister believes that at the first stage there is a need to minimize taxes for the citizens involved in such activity. In the long run it will help increase the budget revenues, he said.