DUSHANBE, July 27, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- There is no necessity to extend the moratorium on inspection of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the head of the Tax Committee under the Government of Tajikistan, Nusratullo Davlatov, told reporters in Dushanbe on July 26.

According to him, many economic entities have used the inspection moratorium just to evade taxes.  Activities of many of SMEs have been non-transparent and instances of violation of tax legislation have been recorded over the past two years.

“We have inspected 381 economic entities; these are economic entities that have applied to the tax committee for inspection themselves and those against whom criminal proceedings have been instituted,” said Davlatov, “According to the findings of the inspections, 85 percent of these enterprises have evaded taxes for a total of 29.7 million somoni.”

He noted that before the introduction of the inspection moratorium tax receipts had accounted for 34.1 percent of the budget’s revenue part while during the moratorium the share of tax receipts decreased to 28.6 percent.

“Indeed, the moratorium was necessary two years ago, but I do not see the necessity for extension of it, especially as the government has created all necessary conditions for development of entrepreneurial activity,” said Davlatov, “We have simplified the tax legislation and removed some contradictions.”

We will recall that by president’s decree of July 25, 2009 a two-year moratorium on inspection of SMEs was introduced in the country.  The main objective of the decree was in supporting further development of SMEs in the country, creation of favorable conditions for attraction of investments, as well as mitigation of effects of the global financial crisis on the country’s economy, creation of new jobs, increase in the revenue part of the budget, and alleviation of poverty in the country