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Nearly Br15.8m from ‘Google tax’ in Belarus in 2018

MINSK, 18 March (BelTA) – In 2018 Belarus’ state budget earned Br15.774 million from the so-called Google tax, BelTA learned from Alla Sundukova, Head of the International Tax Cooperation Office of the Belarusian Tax and Duties Ministry.

According to the source, 59 foreign companies, which provide digital services, have been registered with the Belarusian customs service in order to pay the VAT.

The official reminded that Belarus’ Tax Code was amended in late 2016 to introduce the Google tax. The amendments came into effect in 2018. “We didn’t change anything much this year because we tried to incorporate all the necessary provisions into legislation early on so that taxpayers would have no questions about the application of the law,” she specified.

Approaches to collecting VAT from digital services are now being looked into within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union. Belarus and Russia already have the legislation in place. Kazakhstan says it is working on amending the legislation and intends to include VAT collection by digital means soon. This is why it is now necessary to regulate the matter as part of the protocol on collecting indirect taxes, which is an inalienable part of the Eurasian Economic Union Treaty. The work has already begun, Alla Sundukova said.

BelTA reported earlier that as of 1 January 2018 foreign companies, which provide digital services to natural persons in Belarus, are supposed to pay VAT as large as 20%. When the legislation was being drafted, revenues from the tax were estimated at $4 million in 2018.

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