Deferral of payments
Decrees with legal force have been adopted giving the right to exemption from paying the advance payments of personal income tax, i.e. the profit tax for the months of March, April and May 2020, to taxpayers from certain activities and other taxpayers who have suffered damage in their operations due to the implementation of measures to prevent the spread and spread of coronavirus.
Remitting penalties and interest
A decree for suspension of fines by the PRO has not been issued, but the PRO has taken a position not to initiate misdemeanour proceedings during the state of emergency or to implement decisions that impose a fine as a misdemeanour sanction. Also, the Government of Republic of North Macedonia adopted a Decree with legal force on the deadlines in court proceedings during the state of emergency and the actions of the courts and public prosecutor's offices published in the Official Gazette of Republic of North Macedonia no. 84/2020 of 30.03.2020, which terminates the statute of limitations for initiating and conducting a misdemeanour procedure, as well as the deadlines for the execution of misdemeanour sanctions, thus ensuring that the initiation of a misdemeanour procedure for the duration of the state of emergency is not obsolete in case of a committed misdemeanour as well as the deadlines for execution of an already imposed fine.
Debt payment plans and suspending debt recovery
No Decree is issued, but the PRO has issued a statement on its website that it will not submit/deliver enforced payment decisions, which also apply to cases when taxpayers meet the requirements for cancellation of deferred payment due to non-payment of monthly rates. No Decree is issued, but the PRO is not conducting enforced debt collection procedures on any ground for any taxpayers and a statement has been issued on the PRO website.
Audit policies and tax certainty
The Public Revenue Office is carrying on urgent audits, audits regarding the deadlines for tax refunds, the expiration of tax liabilities etc. The tax auditors are deciding on the urgency of the audit control. First of all, they are performing ongoing VAT refund audits (almost finished audits). Thereafter they will conduct audits that have been started already. The General Tax Inspectorate is conducting new VAT refund’s audits only on the high-risk level taxpayers (regarding amount of refund, past conducted audits, etc.). Regarding audits that are part of the audit plan and are without deadlines, we are informing the taxpayers about the postponement/putting on hold of the audit, taking into consideration the deadlines for expiration of the tax liability. The PRO Tax Inspectorate is made available to the State Market Inspectorate for coordinated conduct of field controls.
Enhanced services and communication initiatives
The PRO is adjusting to the new conditions and is open to the taxpayers in order to fulfil their obligations to the competent institutions in the country. This applies primarily to all those taxpayers that are most affected by the crisis and that will apply for the benefits offered by the state. For this purpose, the Regional Directorates’ Offices are open every business day from 8AM to 2PM. The call centre is operational and the taxpayers have the opportunity to submit their questions by email to the PRO. The Public Revenue Office is constantly updating the website where all the decrees adopted by the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia are posted. All activities and information about the work of the Public Revenue Office in the time of emergency and in order to prevent the occurrence and spread of Covid-19 are published on the website of the PRO, are submitted to the media (printed / electronic) and shared on social networks (Facebook / Instagram). The Public Revenue Office also constantly appeals to citizens and taxpayers about the possibility of using the electronic services of the PRO. In general, despite the new situation, the PRO is open for communication and is in the service of taxpayers.
General Comments
By proposal of Government of Republic of North Macedonia, a state of Emergency was declared on 18/03/2020 by the President of the Republic of North Macedonia for the next 30 days for the whole territory of the country. During state of emergency Government is issuing decrees which have force as laws and they are published in Official Gazette.
Business Continuity Measures
Scenario planning
The PRO staff works from home or with shifts, especially for the next 30 days period. If a work activity requires the employees working from home will come to work (for a day or two or more) – this will be decided either by the head of the relevant sector/department or by the cabinet of the Director General. Some of the employees have been already at home more than one week on paid leave, if the family has child/children under 10.
Identification of critical and non-critical activities
The employees from the non-critical sectors/departments, i.e. the “non-tax functions” are working mostly from home. If a work activity requires the employees of this sectors/departments working from home will come to work (for a day or two or more) – this will be decided either by the head of the relevant sector/department or by the cabinet of the Director General. The employees from the “tax functions” of the administration which are service oriented to the taxpayers are working in shifts in accordance with the pre-defined importance of the sector/department activities. Furthermore, the working hours of the Regional Offices / Tax Departments / Tax Counters of the Public Revenue Office for admission of taxpayers is between 08:00-14:00 to meet all those taxpayers who need a certificate of paid taxes and contributions and who use this certificate before the Development Bank of North Macedonia. The Public Revenue Office advises and appeals to all taxpayers, instead of coming to the Public Revenue Office in person, to apply for the Certificate through the e-Tax system of the PRO.
Staff and taxpayer safety
The Public Revenue Office is implementing all the measures adopted by the Government and the Ministry of Health in order to eliminate the risks that may lead to unintended consequences related to the Corona virus. We have provided disinfectants, masks and gloves for all tax officers who are (can be) in direct communication/contact with the taxpayers. The work premises are disinfected, security is increased and taxpayers can enter into the PRO’s archive only one by one. Additionally, we highly recommend that taxpayers use the electronic services e-tax and e-pdd (e-pit).
Remote working
The employees from the non-critical sectors/departments, i.e. the “non-tax functions” are working mostly from home. If a work activity requires the employees of this sectors/departments working from home will come to work (for a day or two or more) – this will be decided either by the head of the relevant sector/department or by the cabinet of the Director General. The employees from the “tax functions” of the administration which are service oriented to the taxpayers are working in shifts in accordance with the pre-defined importance of the sector/department activities.
Communicating
The PRO is implementing the measure called "Work From Home" according to a previously prepared work plan and a schedule. The tax officers are requested to individually submit a personal statement that they agree to work from their homes. The statement includes: home address of tax officer, private and business mobile numbers and e-mail. Additionally, the responsible persons from the Regional Directorates should inform the Professional Standards Unit in case of a non-response of telephone calls by officers or other occurrences of non-performance of work tasks during this period, according to the work plans.
Training and redeployment
According to the measures adopted by the Government the trainings that were planned for the next months are postponed until the end of the emergency with the coronavirus.
In case you have any document of information which you find worth to share regarding the actions, measures or concrete experiences in countering the crisis, please do not hesitate to upload it to the subpage focusing on Covid-19 Crisis Support on IOTA website in order to share it with other members.