27th November 2024, Skopje – Tax evasion is a challenge every country faces, the least developed and the developed ones alike, hence cooperation among the countries and exchange of information are vital to fighting this phenomenon, Minister of Finance, Gordana Dimitrieska-Kochoska, pointed out at the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, taking place in Paraguay.
“Tax evasion is everywhere, even in developed countries, hence, every country, not just my country, needs support. When talking about tax evasion, adopting the legislation is not the only thing that matters. What matters more is the Government’s willingness to succeed in fighting it”, the Minister said.
Although Macedonia is a member of the OECD Global Forum since 2011, we still have high percentage of grey economy, tax evasion, corruption, crime, which means that we are doing something wrong.
“I have used these five months since taking office to analyze the things, and I have noticed that everything starts with political willingness and tax administration. Just as an example, in 2022, our tax authorities received 24 requests in 2022, while we sent only 5 requests. Therefore, this Government’s priority is fighting corruption and crime, since this is the only way how we can increase the revenues in our Budget. We have flat and very low tax rates and huge grey economy, based on what we have decided that, now, it is time to decrease the grey economy. To the end of efficient and better collection of revenues, we need to share information and we need everything that is at our disposal”, the Minister stressed, adding that both the tax and the customs authorities are focused on collecting revenues and fighting tax evasion.
She also underlined that exchange of information is vital and it should be automatic, rather than upon request, in particular considering the introduction of the global minimum tax.
The Minister took part in the panel discussion dedicated to the progress achieved in the implementation of the standards on automatic exchange of information.
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