Oslobođenje: The introduction of the Fiscal counters in the FBiH, and in BiH as a whole, would be of a big significance for the country and for entities as well. This would be a logical step for improvement of discipline of the tax payers because through the introduction of the fiscal counters the realized cash trade in their business registers would be more objectively stated.

“After our initiative and media contravention on necessity of introduction of the fiscal counters in the FBiH, the Government of the FBiH has formed the Commission consisting of the experts, which would need to give a recommendation for adopting the Law on Fiscal Counters. However the commission has not had a meeting until today”, has been said by Midhat Arifović, director of the Tax Administration of the FBiH.

FBiH canters

He has pointed out that it is sad that BiH has not yet moved a step in the field of fiscalization in contrary to another BiH entity, in which the Government of the RS has at the beginning of the year adopted the Law on Fiscal Counters and where the process of fiscalization is in the process.

Covering the realistic traffic

The fact is that one number of legal and physical persons do not record a real traffic in business registers, or it does not show the realistic revenue from which the salaries for illegal work have been financed, or for the employees who were not employed in accordance with the federal regulations and for which the taxes and contributions are not being paid. Besides that, by not notifying the realistic revenue, paying the VAT (tax on the revenue of legal and independent economists) is being avoided. Exactly for that, there is a need to introduce the fiscal counters as soon as possible, for all legal and physical persons. It has been evidenced that there is a big number of payers who do not show the whole achieved traffic in cash and this way they avoid passing the threshold of 50.000 KM of the taxed annual traffic, which represents the legal obligation for compulsory registration in the system of the VAT.

“The RS has started with the introduction of the fiscal counters by the segments, or by the functions. Unfortunately, the FBiH canters for the RS. We in the FBiH, have not yet adopted the Law on Fiscal Counters, it has not been worked on the preparation of that law, and we do not have rule-book on the application of fiscal counters”, Arifović has said.

According to him, he has interceded the introduction of the fiscal counters and introduction of the VAT because the introduction of the fiscal counters in such environment is a necessity.  

“With such, uncontrolled border crossings, with possibility of the legal import of goods, with this gray economy, illegal work, the fiscal counters must be introduced before the VAT, without need to talk about the announced application of the tax on income from January 1st, 2009”, Arifović has said.

When speaking of application of the Law on Tax on Income, especially significant will be the income from the independent trade/turnover and similar to that, work of medical workers, lawyers, notaries, auditors, engineers, architects, translators and other independent work, who majority of the income earn by cash.

Loss of money

By non-introduction of the fiscal counters, money is being lost, but nobody deals with it seriously, according to Arifović.

By reflecting on the fact that one entity has a law, which is being broadly applied, while another entity and the District still only think about the adoption of such law, Arifović says:

“The tax payers, the owners of the market objects, are now in a different position. We came to the absurd that the owners of the foreign companies who have their shopping centers in two entities, in one of them they have to have the fiscal counters, and in another one not, which repels the foreign investors and confuses the foreign contributors”, Arifović has explained.

He said that the introduction of fiscal counters is in the public interest of citizens because it would create more fiscal financial order. According to him, by introducing the counters, a big number of the employers would not then have a possibility to pay the illegal salaries, which means the rights of the employees would be improved, and the grey economy would reduce.