site.btaParliament Enables Religious Denominations to Defer Payment of Debts to Exchequer for up to Ten Years

March 28 (BTA) - On Thursday, Bulgaria's Parliament
passed conclusively revisions to the Religious Denominations Act
 allowing the denominations to defer the payment of the their
obligations to the Exchequer for a period of up to ten years. At
 the request of religious denominations, the law allows deferral
 of public dues pursuant to the Tax and Social-Insurance
Procedure Code unpaid by December 31, 2018, as well as the
interest accrued by the date of issuance of the permission.
Interest equal to the base interest rate will be due for the
period of deferral. The request for deferral is to be submitted
within three months after the amendments to the law become
effective.

The MPs defeated a motion of the United Patriots, according to
which religious denominations in Bulgaria receiving a state
subsidy would not be entitled to receive donations from foreign
countries or foreigners. "When a denomination receives a subsidy
 from the State, then it is not right for that denomination to
benefit from subsidies of foreign organizations," United
Patriots MP Valeri Simeonov stressed. The motion was rejected
after the sitting was suspended before consultations between the
 parliamentary groups with National Assembly Chair Tsveta
Karayancheva. Tsvetan Tsvetanov of GERB explained that the
Bulgarian Orthodox Church leadership had declared at a meeting
that the Church does not agree to limiting the extra funds they
receive as donations. IG/BR


/СН/