The Serbian economy set aside almost 1.2 billion euros in 2019 for the twenty largest non-tax levies, according to NALED’s annual report on the quality of the regulatory environment, the “Regulatory Index of Serbia”. The goal of NALED is to soon present a public electronic register of non-tax levies that would be useful for both the economy and citizens.
NALED announced that the amount of almost 1.2 billion euros is twice as much as in 2016 and the previous RIS, when 608 million euros were set aside for the 20 largest levies. The largest part of the money, almost 625 million euros, went to the republic budget (50.7 percent), NALED points out.
Cities and municipalities earned more than 325 million euros (26.4 percent) on behalf of those non-tax levies, 63 million euros on the provincial budget, and 216 million euros on other users.
Apart from the financial burden, their number is also a problem for citizens and the economy.
“At the national level alone, there are 1,189 non-tax levies, listed by KPMG and NALED as part of the USAID-supported Non-Tax Revenue Project. When we add to that a large number of levies prescribed by local governments, provinces, public companies and agencies, it is clear that citizens and the economy cannot understand what they have to pay, unless we show it to them in a simple way and in one place, within the public electronic register of non-tax levies,” says Igor Loncarevic, partner in the company KPMG and vice-president of the Alliance for Fair Competition in NALED.
Introduce a public electronic register
The goal, adds Loncarevic, is to soon present a model of such a register to the Ministry of Finance and show what its advantages are.
“We will start with the register of republic and local administrative fees, and we will subsequently add fees and other non-tax levies,” he added.
Given that the republic’s administrative fees are systematized within the law, the first version of the register would help systematize local fees, which can now only be found in individual decisions of local governments.
Within the register, users could search the fees on several grounds – the law and bylaw that introduced it, the authority responsible for collection, the basis and amount of fees, the deadline for payment and other important elements.
This would make it much easier to find the fees and amounts they are required to pay, as well as the payment account.
In addition, the register should have a constitutive effect and prevent the introduction and collection of fees that are not registered.
For bodies wishing to register a new levy, there would be an enrollment procedure, and final approval would be given by the Ministry of Finance. In the future, the state could also enable the payment to be paid electronically through the register, they say in NALED.
Where is the most money collected?
When it comes to the twenty most generous non-tax levies, the most money was collected for a special fee for the use of the state road.
This is followed by the fee for the use of space and construction land and the fee for the use of goods of general interest.
In the fourth place are the republic administrative fees, and in the fifth place are the fees for organizing games of chance.
At the top in terms of the amount of collected funds are also fees for the use of airspace, water, forest and agricultural land and natural resources, environmental protection, funds from leasing agricultural land, court fees and more.
The non-tax revenue reform project is being implemented with the aim of improving the transparency and predictability of non-tax levies, including all types of fees, taxes and other non-tax levies paid by businesses and citizens, through the establishment of a comprehensive public Register of non-tax and parafiscal levies.
It is implemented by Partner Solutions, KPMG, NALED and the Mihajlo Pupin Institute, and is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Bonitet reports.
