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The income tax draft will be sent to the Constitutional Court, the lawyers: It creates inequality

Politiko 2023-03-30 09:11:47

The income tax draft will be sent to the Constitutional Court, the lawyers: It

Interest groups including the free professions of accountants, lawyers and doctors will seek to send the draft law "On income tax" to the Constitutional Court.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (IKM), Sotiraq Dhamo, told Monitor that in order to send the law to the Constitutional Court, in addition to accountants, the Chamber of Lawyers and Doctors will also be organized.

Even earlier, the representatives of free professions have expressed concern that the new draft law is illegal, as it creates inequality between taxpayers and promotes evasion.

" Treating self-employed income as salary income is illegal. The extension of the law to self-employed freelancers will have negative effects for many reasons. The self-employed are businesses, they assume risks, they have no fixed income and cannot be called salary income. The draft law is evasive, as it considers the self-employed the same as the category of self-employed with other employees.

How can their income be taxed as salary income when there are others employed. The classification is wrong. Also, the treatment of the self-employed with fees up to ALL 2,040,000 15% and above this level of 23% does not put them on equal terms with other businesses. A shpk business that can earn income up to 5 million lek and pays 15% profit tax while a self-employed person for income over 2,040,000 will pay 23%.

The changes also create inequality between taxpayers. We are not against the payment of tax to freelancers, but if a category of businesses does not pay, they do not have to pay freelancers. As stipulated in the bill, small commercial businesses will be zero-taxed until 2029,"  accountant Sotiraq Dhamo said earlier.

Even the lawyer Klodian Gjermeni added earlier that there is a violation of constitutional rights, due to the unequal tax treatment of the categories involved in this type of business. According to him, this could be one of the reasons of the Chamber of Advocates for sending the law to the Constitutional Court.

The draft law "On income tax" was approved by the parliamentary Committee on Economy and Finance. The draft was expected to enter into force from January 1, 2023, but was postponed at the end of this year, after the working group set up by the parliamentary committee asked to consider the complaints of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Association of Banks.

The draft revised by the deputies brought only the revision of some terms, while it did not take into account the interest groups' request for the postponement of the progressive tax on the self-employed until December 2029, as it is foreseen to follow 0% tax for small commercial businesses and the other self-employed.

Through the new draft law "On income tax" from January 1, 2024 self-employed people of free professions will no longer be treated as a small business at 0%, but the net income (profit) from the business for the self-employed will be taxed at 15% rates for the range from 0 to 14,000,000 ALL and above 14,000,000 ALL, 23% profit tax is imposed.

For small business (including self-employed categories) the effects of the law will start to apply from January 1, 2029./ MONITOR

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