A law enabling farmers to pay their taxes with funds accumulated in their VAT accounts will enter into effect by November 25, assures Minister of Agriculture Vladimir Bolea.
He added that the initial draft law proposed such a facility only for the farmers affected by this summer’s drought, but recently it has been decided to extend the law for all farmers.
“It is a measure that would support farmers, allowing us to pay our taxes from the amount of VAT that we have accumulated in our accounts. But I understood from remarks made by the chairman of the parliamentary committee on agriculture that not all farmers will benefit from this law, but only those who have suffered from the drought. In addition, there are a lot of conditions that must be met, which would complicate the smooth implementation of this law. The VAT refunds on our accounts are still our money that we paid a year ago. Large farms have hundreds of thousands of lei in those accounts, a small association like mine has accumulated 10-12 thousand lei, but I still cannot use this amount (in the absence of a specific law)”, said Vasile Mîrzenco, executive director of the National Federation of Farmers, during a talk show on Moldova 1.
But Minister Bolea assures the initial draft will be modified to include all farmers, not only those affected by the drought.
“All the measures negotiated and discussed with the farmers have been fulfilled. Currently the VAT draft law is in the final stretch and is being tabled in Parliament. By November 25, it will be adopted and will enter into force, so that the last promise is fulfilled that economic operators who have VAT in their account will be able to pay their taxes from the amount of VAT they have in their accounts. I had a meeting with the chairman of the agriculture committee, Alexandru Trubca, and we agreed that everyone will benefit from the effects of this law”, said Vladimir Bolea.
“It is important that this law works. It will be an important step for all farmers who will have access to these facilities to be able to use their VAT for paying taxes or reinvesting”, said Iurie Hurmuzachi, deputy director of the Federation of Farmers.