BiH has signed 36 agreements on avoidance of double taxation with other countries, and in the process is the negotiating and signing of agreements with 18 more countries, announced the Deputy Minister of Finance and Treasury of BiH Edita Đapo yesterday in Sarajevo.
She participated in the regional conference on the topic “Agreements for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and Business Environment: Strengthening the Functions of Relevant Institutions’’, which is organized by the BIH Ministry of Finance and Treasury and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group.
Countries sign bilateral agreements, added Đapo, in order to avoid double taxation because it leads to discrimination and unequal treatment of investors. This creates more favorable economic conditions and environment for investors.
“The regional conference was organized to attract investors from other parts of the country because they know the entire region and in this sense the tax policy is of great importance. The goal of this conference is to seek models and see the possibilities for better connectivity of administrative institutions that collect taxes and for a better exchange of information that would not lead to tax fraud or something similar’’, said Đapo to journalists.
The two day conference that started today will be attended by high officials of the Ministries for Finance and the tax authorities from Eastern European countries and Central Asia and experts from the area of application of the agreement on avoidance of double taxation.
This was organized in the framework of projects of increasing transparency and simplification of tax procedures. The project activities are designed according to the needs of countries in order to enable efficient regional cooperation and exchange of experience.
Lisa Kaestner, the regional manager of the IFC, said that it is a project in collaboration with the governments in the region carried out to simplify tax procedures in order to reduce costs to ensure tax compliance, especially for small and medium businesses.
“The IFC supports the development of competitive markets, stimulating growth and creating new jobs’’, said Kaestner.
The Swiss State Secretariat supports the project for Economic Affairs (SECO).
Deputy Ambassador of Switzerland to BiH Lukas Rozenkranc told journalists that Switzerland plans to invest around 55 million euros in BiH by 2016, and the basic activities are related to programs to help local governments, development of infrastructure, health, employment and the economy.
“I believe that an efficient and transparent tax administration is very important to attract investors. In addition to that, efficient tax administration is important for the state revenue structure’’, said Rozenkranc.
According to him, it is very important for countries in the region, including BIH, to harmonize its procedures with international standards, which is especially important for EU accession.
(Source: ekapija.ba)
