DUSHANBE, May 14, Asia-Plus  -- The law on changes and addenda to the country’s tax code has increased tax burden, Ms. Matlouba Uljaboyeva, the chairperson of the National Association of Small and Medium Businesses of Tajikistan (Namsbt), said in an interview with Asia-Plus.

Under the law adopted on April 5 this year, enterprises now have to report not quarterly as it was before but monthly.”  “Moreover, value added tax (VAT) is now not reckoned at purchasing fixed assets that actually increases their cost by 20 percent,” she said.   

Besides, according to Part 2 of Article 2 of the Tax Code, the amendments were supposed to take effect starting from the next quarter, July 1, 2008, but not from the date when it was published, which is violation of the Tax Code.   

In the meantime, an entrepreneur from the Sughd province noted that in accordance of Article 45 of the Tax Code, financial institutions now do not have right to provide loans to borrowers without individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN).  “The majority of tax services in the provinces do not have enough ITIN sheets that creates problems for local small and medium-sized enterprises to get loans,” he said.