Corruption, lack of confidence in ATK is disturbing

ATK Director Ilir Murtezaj said the ATK has prepared a draft document for efficiency improvement in this institution.

Murtezaj said ATK has advanced greatly in the process of providing better taxpaying services, but it is not enough and intended to advance further.

As far as corruption is concerned, he said corruption perceptions in ATK have decreased, compared to two years ago.

This year's “has become the latest 2019 poll, which has not yet been made public, but in this survey in many indicators, the Tax Administration has achieved a significant advantage at the same time, and in the indicator it has made of integrity or the perception of citizens regarding abuse of official duty, there is an advantage. From a record that was in 2017, about 43 per cent of citizens who have claimed to have corruption, in the latest measurements of 2019, result in it being 36 per cent. However, this is disturbing, it is very high and we aim for both the ATK in co-operation with USAID and businesses to find the way to improving this” image, Murtezaj said.

Murtezaj also talked about debts to this institution, currently worth 350m euros.

While, director of the U Economic Development Office AID in Kosovo, Joshua Mike talking about the importance of this integrity plan, said Kosovo's economy suffers from high informality, which impacts are negative in many ways.

Mika said the best action plans are those that for the implementation of electronic tax statements, where and electronic platforms is a good effort to modernise ATK, as well as a good signal that Kosovo is in good direction.

“We need to be aware that the economy in Kosovo suffers from high levels of informity resulting in suppressing economic growth and in long-term economic development. This encourages insufficient employment, reduces development incentives, and increases in local production and export growth. For USAID, it's an honour that is part of a kind of movement or effort like this. So, I'm saying it's encouraging that I look at this collaboration in the works”, Mike said.

The executive director in the American Economic Ode, Arian Zeka, stressed that a format of dialogue like this should be continuous between businesses and ATK for an important aspect that is reporting the corruption that businesses face.

Zeka said on the basis of a study, ATK ranks in terms of real corruption this year.

Kosovo's <x0.>Oda American Economics recently conducted a survey and a study in collaboration with the commercial financial justice activity programme as well as the United States Agency for International Development, and like last year, ATK is very well ranked in terms of real corruption, not perceived corruption, even though there has been a slight decline compared to last year's findings. What is disturbing, if he does not mention the figures, that study will be published next week”, Zeka said.

Zeka stressed that what is disturbing is that of those who have faced real corruption, not only in the case of ATK, but also in other state institutions, is that a very small percentage of them have reported corruption.

Fiktret Havolli from the company Passable, presenting his remarks, said this integrity plan has not included a long-term development plan for fighting informality at percentage points according to the years.

Havoli also added that unjustly both business and ATK were punished.

I had suggested that the informality report and a plan to fight informality be treated with great care and divided into operations. That's why, but I say, because it doesn't use notes from the CEC and commercial banks for the incomes of individuals and company revenues, as well as the delivery of balances done at banks to various companies. So this data has to be verified to be transparent in relation to ATK not to punish real businesses as if the case had happened to us, where the inspector comes to punish us and the reason is that, because we've made sale by law, with fiscal cases. But the inspector says: This doesn't do this” Why didn't they do that? I don't know. Now this is actually a big problem, because we go back to informality and to fiscal crates that haven't actually been implemented”, Havol stated.

Otherwise, drafting this plan is supported by the Program USAID for Economic Governance in Kosovo, which is also co-organizing the public consultations process.