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IRD urges investors to pay taxes for CSE’99 gains

05/01/2004 12:16
Manager of the Inland Revenue Department, Giorgos Poufos urged investors through StockWatch on Monday to pay the taxes for the CSE gains in 1999, explaining that pursuant to the current legislation, delays in tax payment are charged with a monthly fine of 2%.

“We urge investors to pay their taxes the soonest possible so as to avoid such additional charges”, Mr. Poufos said.

In addition to the 2% fine, there is also a fine of 5% on the taxable profits for not submitting a tax return on time or concealing profits, an interest rate of 9% on the taxable profit effective as from August 2000 and a tax of 3% for defence on the total profits (which is currently in disputed in courts).

Technical problems

Invited to comment on the proposal of the DISY MPs, Mr. Poufos explained that there is a number of technical problems in its application.

“The influx from these taxes in the public coffers has reached £15 – 20 thousand per day. I am not aware of what does the Parliament intend to do, but we really have to examine the technoeconomic aspects of the issue”, he noted.

Mr. Poufos estimates that a public discussion of the issue might lead to uncertainty and unwillingness to pay, while penalties accrue.

Warnings and objections

As StockWatch reported earlier, for the past two months the Inland Revenue Department has been mailiing “Notices for Tax Payment” to all those who have not yet settled their tax liabilities.

StockWatch sources reveal that a number of investors have already filed objections against the sums claimed in the Notices.

Referring to the procedures followed by the Inland Revenue Department, Mr. Poufos explained that the lists and the data of the Investigation Committee did not provide all the necessary documentation for tracking down the tax offenders. “It took 4-5 months to improve the quality and reliability of the procedure and to evaluate the results. Now, we are absolutely sure on the reliability of our data”, he concluded.