Business news

MINSK, 23 March (BelTA) – Over 30 major Belarusian companies are testing digital invoices that will become mandatory for Belarusian payers of the value added tax as from 1 July, BelTA learned from Igor Skrinnikov, Head of the Central Office for Taxation Methods of the Belarusian Tax and Duties Ministry.

According to the source, about 30-40 major Belarusian companies are involved in the test phase of the digital invoices rollout. The companies are expected to get first-hand experience of the novelty and to present their remarks and proposals. The number of testers is expected to go up soon.

Igor Skrinnikov pointed out that the digital administration of the value added tax will allow comparing figures in VAT declarations with those in digital tax invoices as well as with figures in databases of the tax service, the customs service, and other information systems. It will be possible to promptly detect risks connected with unjustified refunds by the state budget. According to the source, control will be exercised in real time right after the VAT tax declaration is submitted. The novelty is expected to create an effective mechanism for fighting VAT frauds.

Apart from that, a number of meetings have been held with the companies that develop accounting software for the sake of outlining the emerging challenges. In particular, the sides discussed what needs to be done to automate data export and import to and from the taxpayer’s software solutions by invoice recipients.

The Tax Code of the Republic of Belarus has been amended to include article 1061 Digital Invoices. The novelty will come into force on 1 July 2016. As of the date all VAT payers listed by the Tax Code (except for foreign companies, which are not registered with Belarusian taxation agencies) will have to use digital invoices.