DUSHANBE, April 25, 2011, Asia-Plus  -- Tajik tax authorities have named Barqi Tojik (the state-owned utility responsible for generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity in Tajikistan) as the country’s largest tax defaulter.

Chairman of the Tax Committee under the Government of Tajikistan, Nusratullo Davlatov, told reporters on April 25 that Barqi Tojik’s tax debts rose 31.8 million somoni in three months to March 31, 2011, reaching 339.4 million somoni.

“Tax arrears rose 22.3 million somoni over the first quarter of this year, reaching 705.8 million somoni, and Barqi Tojik now accounts for 48 percent of the overall amount of tax arrears,” Davlatov noted.

According to him, the tax collection target has been overfulfilled by 8.5 over the first three months of this year.  “886.7 million somoni in taxes have been collected in the country over the report period, which is 69.7 million somoni more than it was originally planned,” Tajik chef tax officer added.