On February 1st, 2024, members of EuroChamber convened at the Chagdarjav conference room of the Ministry of Finance for a meeting with Mr. Telmuun, Director of the Taxation Department. During the session, companies expressed their concerns regarding taxation, and ministry officials provided responses to questions posed by EuroChamber members’ representatives. The meeting covered the following issues:
– Companies often express dissatisfaction with the tax reporting platform. The ongoing digitization of the tax reporting procedure is still in progress, and the integration of government services is proceeding at a slower pace than anticipated. This situation poses challenges for the tax reporting platform.
– Government agencies are well-aware of gray importing; however, it is important for companies to report alleged instances of gray importing to trigger the initiation of criminal cases for illegal activities by the relevant government agencies.
-Complex tax disputes and financial cases often undergo lengthy legal proceedings, spanning years in court. Recognizing this issue, the relevant government bodies have initiated efforts to expedite legal proceedings for cases of small values.
– Companies often express dissatisfaction with the aggressive nature of the tax collection process, which includes measures like freezing assets and closing bank accounts, especially when there is a requirement to prepay the disputed tax debt amount. Conversely, the government adheres to the principle of prioritizing tax receivables over other types of receivables. When a tax officer imposes a penalty act on a company, the tax authority withholds the tax debt. If the company contests the penalty act in court, and the court determines that the tax officer wrongly imposed the penalty, the tax authority reimburses the deducted money for the tax debt along with its accrued interest. At the same time, the tax authority tries to avoid freezing assets and closing bank accounts while resolving tax disputes.
– Companies frequently raise concerns about local vendors not providing VAT invoices, which poses challenges for tax reporting. In response to this issue, the Ministry of Finance has suggested that companies report instances of local vendors operating in provinces and soums who fail to provide VAT invoices.
– To address misunderstandings regarding certain articles in Mongolia’s double-tax avoidance agreements with other countries, including those related to withholding tax, the Ministry of Finance officials have advised companies to seek assistance from tax consultants and refer to the commentaries on the articles of the model tax convention issued by the OECD.
In response to complaints about the methods used to calculate tax rates for mining license transfers, softer methods have been introduced since the approval of a new procedure in October, 2023. – According to the procedure, the contract value will be used to determine tax rates when the license is transferred between two entities not related to each other. If the license is transferred between two entities related to each other, alternative methods will be employed.
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