Meat prices will not increase owing to VAT

The prices of meat will not rise owing to the Value Added Tax (VAT), Prime Minister Vlad Filat assured after a meeting with meat producers. He said that the VAT on meat will be 8% as earlier, not 20% as the Tax Inspectorate announced, Info-Prim Neo reports. Ion Bazgu, director of “Avicola Moldova” company, said that though no essential fiscal changes were planned for this year, the meat producers are concerned about the VAT. The Tax Inspectorate incorrectly interpreted Article 96 of the Tax Code that was amended by Parliament and informed the producers that the VAT on meat will increase from 8% to 20%. The head of the State Main Tax Inspectorate Nicolae Platon said in this connection that he made a request to the Ministry of Finance, which, in turn, submitted an application to the parliamentary commission on economy, budget and finance. “We received an answer from the commission, which specifies the groups that benefit from the lower VAT of 8%. The standard tax of 20% is put on other activities. After we received this answer, we sent a letter with explanations,” said Nicolae Platon. Vlad Filat asked the administration of the Tax Inspectorate to inform the Government before making orders. He stressed that the VAT on meat remains 8%. Minister of Agriculture Vasile Bumakov said that the producers would have increased the meat prices if they had been assured that the VAT would be higher. “Now that the necessary explanations were provided, we should not discuss possible rises in the price of meat,” said the minister. The amendments to Article 96 (VAT rates) of the Tax Code came into force on March 13.