site.btaRevenue Agency Reports over Lv 1.9 Bln Increase of Collectability Y/Y

Revenue Agency Reports over Lv 1.9 Bln Increase of Collectability Y/Y

Sofia, December 23 (BTA) - According to preliminary data, by the end of 2016 the National Revenue Agency (NRA) will collect a total of 17,600 million leva from taxes and insurance contributions. The figure shows 1,900 million leva more revenue as compared to 2015, NRA said.

This is a total increase of over 3,500 million leva compared to 2014. The agency defines it as the best at the level of results and the most satisfactory at the level of confidence of the citizens and achievements for the NRA team.

VAT revenue has reached 5,400 million leva, a result which shows an increase of over 1,000 million leva year-on-year, while revenue from insurance contributions (social and health) has reached 7,300 million leva. In this case, the increase is over 500 million leva compared to a year earlier. Over 105 million leva of the increase is due to more health insurance contributions.

NRA provides over 80 e-services and reports that over 90 per cent of all tax returns have been submitted digitally. As a result, in 2016 NRA has saved over 300 million leva administrative expenses of business and citizens by processing over 100 million e-documents.

In 2016 NRA drastically increased the efficiency of control and achieved very good results in the fight against the grey economy.

The introduction of a simplified VAT reimbursement procedure for correct taxpayers is one of the measures whereby the Agency voted more confidence to taxpayers who pay their obligations on time. In the fall of 2016, NRA introduced an entirely new VAT reimbursement procedure for the correct companies with good tax history. Where the VAT reimbursement sum is within certain limits and do not have unpaid obligations to the budget, the sums are reimbursed immediately and without formalities. By this procedure, nearly 9 million leva VAT of 3,300 companies have been reimbursed in three months.

The turnover in settlements along the Black Sea coast in the three summer months exceeded 5,000 million leva; the number of cash registers has increased by nearly 10 per cent; VAT revenue of NRA structures in Varna and Bourgas over the same period increased by nearly 40 million leva, the Agency said. NAP teams have made over 15,000 inspections, open observations and application of remote connection and inventory software. The turnover accounted from the fiscal devices in Varna and Bourgas increased by over 200 million leva as a result of the inspections.

NRA reports clear signals for a consistent change in the conduct of risk traders in the direction of abidance by tax requirements. A similar approach will also be applied during the winter tourist season. There are about 9,700 completed audits revealing unpaid taxes and insurance fees for some 1,800 million leva and the NRA inspections totalled 276,000. Inspections of natural persons for incompliance of acquired property and declared income in 2016 revealed 1,355 undeclared taxes and insurance contributions for over 126 million leva. A total of 137 audits were made aimed at liability of owners and company managers for obligations amounting to nearly 85 million leva.

There is also an exceedingly positive change in the attitude of taxpayers to the process of tax payment. The share of voluntarily declared and paid on time obligations is rising consistently and 83 per cent of NRA clients have declared and paid precisely on time. The final outcome is a reduced share of overdue obligations which are subject to coercive procedure.

NRA has also collected 118 million leva more overdue public obligations compared to last year.

A social survey of the Bulgarian Industrial Association shows that NRA is the institution that enjoys the highest degree of confidence on the part of the public. Fifty-one per cent of the respondents have expressed positive opinion about the operation of the institution and the tax administration. The next-ranked institutions in Bulgaria have 20 per cent lower results.