Traders will be obliged to have cash registers and this decision is final. Any commercial activity should be accompanied by cash registers and everyone should pay the correct part of taxes, said Minister of Economy Dumitru Alaiba, referring to the dissatisfaction expressed by patent holders with the switchover to independent activity as from July 1, IPN reports.

According to the minister, less than a month has left until the individual entrepreneurial activity will start to be used. This is a much more transparent and civilized form of trading. “As some of the patent holders still have questions, I asked the chief of the Tax Service to order that all the district heads of the Tax Service should go to markets and explain to the people all the details of the transition,” noted Dumitru Alaiba.

Additionally, each patent holder is phoned and asked to answer questions individually. The people will also receive clear information with the explained steps by mail. Some of the patent holders already started to apply the new regime. The Organization for Entrepreneurship Development prepares an instrument by which the traders will be refunded the price of the cash register.
 
“I care a lot about the entrepreneurs, any kind of entrepreneurs. The current patent holders are authentic micro-entrepreneurs. They should be supported and helped to develop. I know that some of the patent holders do not want to accept the new conditions. We have discussed the situation for over half a year. As I said, the cash register must be introduced,” stated Dumitru Alaiba.

The minister noted that the new independent activity offers much better conditions than work based on patent: 1% of the sales, cash register without money, no reports and papers, cap on sales that is for four times higher than in the case of patents and many other benefits.

In a news conference hosted by IPN, a group of patent holders expressed their dissatisfaction with the reform. They said they Minister Alaiba aims to destroy the small and medium-sized enterprises, to close the markets all over the country and to favor foreign companies and large shops in Moldova. They noted the differentiated taxation is the only alternative to entrepreneur’s patent as the markets and the volume of merchandise are different.