Filenews 25 July 2022
By Theano Thiopoulou
The direct tax base at the end of 2021 included 968,745 active taxpayers' files and the indirect tax base of 93,850 active taxpayers. According to the annual report 2021 of the Ministry of Finance published last week, the direct tax base showed an increase of 32,618 taxpayers compared to 2020, coming from the new registered legal entities and natural persons for income tax purposes. The register of indirect taxation at the end of 2021 showed a decrease of 3,972 compared to 2020, mainly resulting from the deletion of legal entities. In 2021, the campaign to reduce backlogs launched in mid-2017 continued. Through this program, in 2021, about 50% of the person's income statements for the tax year 2016 have been cleared. This development greatly helps the goal set to clear the delayed work by the end of 2022.
According to the report, as a continuation of the work of clearing the delayed work, the automated mass imposition of taxes for the tax years 2012-2014 for 132,116 legal entities and 71,841 individuals for the tax year 2015 came into force. Part of the delayed work clearance campaign is also the settlement of objections relating to previous tax years and the time for submitting data has elapsed. The number of unadjusted objections at 31 December 2021 decreased to 9,137 compared to 10,044 at the beginning of the year. It is noted that within the year a total of 8,310 new objections for all types of taxes were received and registered and within the year 9,217 objections were settled.
Computerized system
During 2021, work has begun on stage 1 of the new computerized system, which concerns the implementation of VAT, along with various functions of the system, as well as work on stage 2, which concerns direct taxes (individuals and companies) along with other functions of the system. Regarding stage 1, by June 2021, the implementation study had been carried out, i.e. the recording of the detailed specifications, which was followed by the operational redesign of the procedures based on the detailed specifications and the recording of the technical specifications, works which were completed in November 2021. At the same time, the project team together with the contractor developed plans that include testing, data migration, the change management process, quality assurance, training needs and the technical environment of the system. After the strategy and test plan had been prepared, the preparation and recording of the scenarios began, which will take place during the stage 1 user tests (VAT). It is noted that in 2021 the implementation of the Technical Assistance plan for the implementation of the system, which is provided by the Finnish Tax Authority and is funded by the EU, continued. This technical assistance has a time horizon of 3 years.
POINT OF VIEW
Let them tell us what to do with tax evasion
There are two big bets for the Tax Department. Firstly, it must have effective control mechanisms in the control of tax avoidance and tax evasion and, secondly, it must be able to carry out the clearance of tax returns quickly. For the first part, consistent taxpayers expect a lot. Unfortunately, so far we have only heard promises when the issue comes to the fore. The fight against tax evasion should be one of the slogans of the presidential candidates and we must listen to their views. If the state could collect as much as it should from those who have to pay, the coffers would have more money and social policy would be more lavish.
