Extension of deadlines
1. Deferral of payments of tax on wages and social contributions for the private sector is given till 2021. This measure has the goal to enhance liquidity of all the legal entities in Serbia which pay wages to their employees.
2. Deferral of paying corporate profit tax in the second quarter of this year. This measure has the goal of enhancing the liquidity of legal entities. Taxpayers are obliged to submit their tax returns within the legal deadlines.
Deferral of payments
For taxpayers who reached an Agreement with the Tax Administration to pay taxes in instalments, during the state of alarm, the Tax Administration will not suspend the Agreement, nor calculate the interest rate for instalments not paid on time.
Remitting penalties and interest
During the state of alarm, interest rate is calculated and charged, but it is decreased by 10% and is equal to the annual referent rate of the National Bank of Serbia, which currently amounts to 1,75%. When it comes to paying tax on wages, social contributions and corporate profit tax, there won't be any interest calculated since all such payments are deferred.
Debt payment plans and suspending debt recovery
During the state of alarm, interest rate is calculated and paid, but it is decreased by 10% and is equal to annual referent rate of the National bank of Serbia, which currently amounts to1,75%. When it comes to paying tax on wages, social contributions and corporate profit tax, there won't be any interest calculated since their payment is deferred. Debt recovery is suspended, but ONLY for taxpayers who reached an Agreement with the Tax Administration to pay taxes in instalments, during the state of alarm. The Tax Administration will not suspend the Agreement, nor calculate the reduced interest rate for instalments not paid on time.
Quicker refunds
For all taxpayers, refunds are being prioritised to ensure funds are repaid as soon as possible.
Enhanced services and communication initiatives
Taxpayers are able to submit tax returns electronically, see the balance on their tax accounts and get tax certificates online. New e-mails have been introduced for taxpayers to submit any kind of request they want rather than coming to the premises of the TA. Only 4 desk offices can accept written requests of taxpayers, face to face. The contact centre has been supplemented by new employees and many new telephone lines are now open.
General measures
1. Direct help to individuals and SME's - the Government will execute payment of minimal wage during the state of alarm - 3 minimal wages.
2. Direct help to large taxpayers - the Government will execute payment amounting to 50% net minimal wage during the state of alarm for the employees which are fired due to lack of work.
3. Donors are free from paying VAT - donors which produce its own products and donate them to institutions which are directly fighting the virus.
4. Our Government introduced a Program for grants for retaining liquidity and cash flow of individuals and SME's, agricultural companies and all those who are registered for producing food.
5. There are also guarantee schemes for grants in commercial banks for individuals and SME's, agricultural companies and all those who are registered for producing food.
6. Deferral of payments of instalments for credits given by commercial banks and leasing instalments lasting 90 days where there is no interest rate calculated.
7. Deadlines in legal matters are relaxed in a way that clients won't be punished for not meeting the deadlines during the state of alarm. In court procedures, the deadlines are not calculated during the state of alarm.
Special measure introduced by Government of the Republic of Serbia is to pay direct help to all citizens of the Republic who are 18 years old and older and amount of 100EUR.
Business Continuity Measures
Governance arrangements
Decision making is centralized. A crisis body was formed and members are all the directors at managerial level. The number of employees onsite is reduced because critical categories of employees (eg. mothers with children aged 12 and below, people with cardiovascular problems, people over 60 years old, etc.) were sent to work from home, online.
Scenario planning
There is the Register of Institutional Risks of the Tax Administration of Serbia and the plans are adjusted according to the restrictions which are given by the Government of the Republic.
Identification of critical and non-critical activities
The TA's Action Plan, which has been set during the alarm state, prioritizes actions which need to be done from the beginning of the state of alarm in Serbia onwards.
Understanding critical vulnerabilities
Within the STA'S Institutional Risks Register 2020-2022 there are given the main risks and recommendations for behaviour of the employees and management in the case there is a pandemic situation. The crucial thing is that the IT platform has to operate because the taxpayers are advised to use STA’s electronic systems more frequently as well as a wide scope of services which can be given without fiscal contact with the TA's officials.
Staff and taxpayer safety
Tax Administration of the Republic of Serbia has obligatory Instruction for business activities of all the governmental institutions, given by our Government where there are stated all the protective measures employees should take to prevent from spreading the virus. We enforced measures to have minimum face to face contact by introducing communication through e-mail with the taxpayers as well as to communicate with them through our Call centre. The taxpayers are coming to our premises exclusively when the tax auditor calls them to come and then they use all the protective means and respecting all the recommendations given by the doctors such as to be 2m away from another person.
Remote working
Remote working is established towards all the employees who could finish their activities from home. Also, we detected all the activities which are necessary to be completed with regard to support of our IT system and, in that way, we managed to fulfil our obligations to taxpayers (VAT, excise refund, allowance refunds, certificate issuance, etc.). We enabled VPN connection for core functions, on the first place for maintenance of our IT system.
Contact arrangements
There is the person within our STA which deals with evaluation of risks which could happen at our work place and that person takes actions in this moment when we are suspecting someone is spreading the virus. This person also makes reports about the sick employees, his/her contacts and reports according to what measure there is e.g. isolation ongoing, etc. The crisis body gets the reports and acts accordingly, if necessary.
Communicating
As mentioned, there is the Crisis body which has the assignment to communicate internally and externally. Crisis body informs all the managers what has to be done and they further inform the other employees.
Training and redeployment
A separate Crisis body for business operations is established, which coordinates which activities should be done by those employees who are less busy, and redeploys them to other activities.
In case you have any document of information which you find worth to share regarding the actions, measures or concrete experiences in countering the crisis, please do not hesitate to upload it to the subpage focusing on Covid-19 Crisis Support on IOTA website in order to share it with other members.