Ahmad Jamali said that the amendment to the Value Added Tax Law was approved in June 2000 and entered into force in January of the same year, and said: Previously, in accordance with Article 52 of the law of 2001, the free and special economic zones were exempted from paying this type of tax. , but in the new law they are included in the payment.
He added: According to this law, customs are required to collect taxes and duties on domestic products in the free zone, and import duties must also be paid for the export of these products.
The economic deputy of the Secretariat of the Supreme Council of Free and Special Economic Zones pointed out: the positive trade balance of the region, the location of the region outside population points and being landlocked, were the three conditions that exempted economic operators value added taxation in the law of 2000; But the legislator did not pay attention to the fact that the specified cases have no precedent in the country, which is why all free zones are subject to the payment of this tax for export and import to the continent.
Jamali continued: In most cases, economic activists are forced to pay their taxes twice; First, materials needed for production enter this area and then leave customs for the mainland; This process forces traders to pay VAT twice.
He said: With the implementation of this law from January last year, not only were these areas not exempted, but they also had to pay a double amount, which caused the government to present a draft law amending this law to the Islamic Council, so that the conditions mentioned are removed
The Economic Assistant of the Secretariat of the Higher Council for Free and Special Zones said that these conditions had made it difficult for economic operators to import into the free zones and said: Consequently, in coordination with the Organization of Taxes and customs, a circular has been issued to solve the problem of production units, on this basis, customs will receive a check equivalent to the value added tax of the goods by introducing the economic operator to the tax affairs organization .
Jamali admitted: With this action, part of the problem of economic activists in free zones has been solved; Because once the check has been issued and stamped by the tax affairs body, the merchant's goods do not remain in customs and customs clearance is accelerated and facilitated.
Pointing out that part of the problems have been solved with this circular, he said: This circular was sent to the customs of the free zones in December, so that upon receipt of the check, they complete the customs formalities and the value tax. added will not prevent the entry of goods.
In the end, the economic deputy of the secretariat of the Supreme Council of Free and Special Economic Zones noted: based on the follow-up carried out by the secretariat, it was decided that the amendment of the law on value tax added will be made during the meeting of the heads of power so that the tax exemption of the free zones is considered again. In the 2023 budget, consider this zone as subject to tax exemption.