Will Customs and the Tax Administration Join?

Projections for uniting the Tax Administration and Customs into the Kosovo Entering Agency are moving towards failure.

Government authorities in Kosovo in 2016 had approved the formal unification of Kosovo Tax Administration (ATK) and Kosovo Customs (DK) at a joint agency, calling it the Kosovo Entrance Agency.

To that end three years ago, the bill was harmonised but not passed.

Outgoing government officials say an unification of the revenue collection system is not necessary.

Luzim Rafuna, adviser to outgoing Finance Minister Bedri Hamza, in a proposal for Radio Free Europe, says the political and economic situation is not in favour of living this unification.

Rafuna says it is very necessary for Dogan to remain in current status.

“Dogana represents the state border, presents state identities and customs officers are at all points along the border crossings, including Serbia. For this reason, in the political situation we are in today, Dogana is very much needed to stay with the status that has”.

The second <x0-element, according to the report of international organisations, is that the level of development of Customs and ATK is not the same. The Customs Administration is much more developed than the Tax Administration. And third, it is the customs staff is not civil staff, it is a uniformised staff and there are all conditions and other salaries from the administration”, Rafuna said.

Even Kosovo Customs Director-General Bahri Berisha says the Customs mission in some areas is different than that of administration, and for that reason, he says not in all sectors the union is needed.

In addition to collecting customs duties, taxing on added value -- the excise on the budget, controlling import and export -- Berisha says Customs also contributes to security, both in combating illegal activities, increasing security through border checkpoints, such as combating border crime, combating drug trafficking, preventing smuggling and weapons.

According to him, only a few units of these two institutions can be integrated into this process.

“We assess that not everything should be joined because Customs envisions a country's state sovereignty. So we think that in some functions its independence should be maintained because it is important both in terms of security and in terms of the fight against transborder crime and in other areas responsible for Customs”, Berisha says about Radio Free Europe.

Berisha also says that Dogan's independence should be preserved in terms of border presence.

However, he says, if such a decision is required by the Government, Dogana will work in this direction.

The “as far as Customs's role in the border presence is concerned, practices in many countries of the world are that Customs preserves it autonomy”, Berisha points out, demanding that Customs develop capacity to prevent various types of crimes, initiated by cyber crimes and other crimes.

And Lulzim Rafuna, says some European Union countries that had earlier completed this process have again divided these agencies in order to function specifically.

I recommend that there be no union for either political reasons or for the development level of both administrations. But the possibility must be seen to advance the Tax Administration while finding opportunities for the creation of a particular entity that will manage and manage the State Value Tax”, Rafuna said.

Kosovo's Tax Administration is an executive agency under the Ministry of Finance. This agency collects taxes and contributions to support the economic development and welfare of Kosovo citizens.

And Kosovo Customs, in addition to customs duties for the General Value Meeting (TVSH), the tax, excise across borders, protects society also from smuggling drugs, other prohibited goods with the harmful effect of economic crime, and income evasion.