Baghdad – IA – Hassan Al-Fawaz
Today, Wednesday, the General Authority for Taxes announced the recommendations for tax reform, stressing its efforts to obtain the necessary approvals for them, while indicating the adoption of electronic correspondence with the central government departments and the regional representation.
The Director of the Authority, Ali Waad, said in his speech during the third annual international scientific conference, held by the Ministry of Finance, and attended by the correspondent of the (INA): “The General Authority for Taxes seeks to provide the best services according to the directives of Prime Minister Muhammad Shia’ al-Sudani, and in accordance with For the government program, therefore, it has become necessary for us to switch to the electronic and digital system.”
He added, “The Authority seeks to obtain fundamental and legal approvals for the recommendations that were presented by us during the tax reform conference held on the sixth day of this month.”
He pointed out that among the most important recommendations of tax reform are:
First: stabilizing property and land values, which will reduce human intervention and reduce opportunities for corruption, which will help in implementing the comprehensive electronic system.
Second: The Authority seeks to encourage local companies to pay all due taxes related to these companies by amortizing the fines and interest accrued by them, provided that they pay the original tax due.
Third: The Authority is seeking to submit a proposal to amortize 50% of the fines and interest imposed on foreign companies, especially oil companies, on the condition that the principal taxes owed are paid as an important basic step, to follow a zero-problem policy.
Fourth: The Authority seeks to solve the problem of similarity of names, this major problem that exists in the General Authority for Taxes, and it is an existing and previous problem, by canceling all the double names that were previously provided to the General Authority for Taxes, and returning them to the official authorities to complete them and adding the triple name or the first name. Mother, wife, or date of birth.
As for the common triple names, including the name (Ali Hussein Ali), which is a very common name and greatly obstructs tax accounting operations, especially for taxpayers in Baghdad and the governorates, so the Authority proposes to return these names to the authorities that sent them to the Authority, to provide them with full information.
Fifth: The Authority is working to complete the stages of networking between the Authority’s center and the rest of the state institutions, including ministries, agencies and general directorates, and to link them electronically, through the establishment of electronic interfaces (website: WebCite) To provide electronic services, especially to taxpayers.
Sixth: The Authority seeks to cooperate with state departments to electronically connect and adopt the barcode system between the Authority and other government departments, as it has been applied in several departments, including all traffic directorates in Baghdad and the governorates, as well as in the company registrars’ department and in the real estate registration departments between the governorates and Baghdad.
Seventh: The authority’s management seeks geographical expansion by opening new branches to reduce the momentum occurring in some branches in the governorates, as well as increasing the tax base, in addition to increasing the number of taxpayers, and simplifying procedures for citizens, as the authority obtained the approval of the Minister of Finance, Taif Sami, to open two branches in each. From the governorates of Basra and Diwaniyah, and one branch in each of the holy governorates of Karbala and Anbar.
Eighth: The Authority is seriously seeking to implement an electronic system, which will contribute significantly to speeding up transactions, reducing cases of corruption, and increasing state resources.
He stressed, “The Authority was able, during the month of last March and until now, to implement the electronic payment system, as it became possible to pay through the electronic card (POS: BeOS) in all Baghdad branches and 70 percent of the governorate branches, similar to what is done in other developed countries.
He continued, “This measure will maximize non-oil revenues, enhance confidence between the tax administration and taxpayers, and reduce human intervention to achieve the highest level of justice and tax transparency.”
He pointed out, “The General Authority worked to simplify procedures, reduce some routine procedures, and adopt electronic correspondence between the Authority’s center and its branches, as well as adopting electronic correspondence between the Authority’s center, state departments, the Kurdistan Region representation, and the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers, especially with regard to citizens’ transactions between the governments of the Center and the region.” “.