[NewsMax Adria] Not knowing the law is not an excuse for not paying taxes

The Association of Online Workers has appealed to its members to massively send e-mails to the Ministry of Finance, Tax Administration and Prime Minister's Office. The goal is to make these institutions consider their requests. They ask for immediate cease of tax collection and termination of procedures initiated by the Tax Administration, while the state asks them to settle their tax debts retroactively, for the previous five years.

In "Daily overview", Igor Lončarević, partner and Head of Tax and Legal in audit company KPMG and the Vice President of NALED's Fair Competition Alliance, said that even though clear instructions were published on Tax Administration's website in mid-October, the mandatory registration of income received from abroad has been existitent for years. 

-Anywhere in the world, when you receive some kind of income, you have to pay some type of tax. Of course, there are some exceptions but they are always listed in the law. Therefore, all of us together need to make an effort, to raise awareness about the issue. NALED has been working with freelancers intensely, and in early November we had a survey among freelancers, who are moslty aged between 20 and 40. We asked them how they perceive their position, and above all, they see that they are not recognized in any laws, and this is true - they are not recognized in the Labor Law. However, the tax laws recognize them very clearly, stating their liabilities to pay the income tax - says Lončarević.

Even though the system of adequately informing taxpayers has been inefficient, not knowing the laws does not exempt someone from paying taxes. The Tax Administration has the right to analyze the data from five years back, and the citizens are obliged to interesuje o svojim poreskim obavezama i zatraži stručni savet.

To resolve the issues between freelancers and the state, the payment of taxes is a necessary step, but wih the option of installment payments. 

-The Law on Tax, Tax Procedure and Tax Administration enables Tax Administration to reach an agreement with a taxpayer or allow debt reprogramming or its payment in up to 60 installments. Basically, the Law enables an option of not charging full default interest rate, but only the reference rate, with a write-off of 50% of interest rate to those that settle the debt in time - says Lončarević.


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