Debating next year's (March 2019-20) budget bill in the Majlis, lawmakers on Wednesday obliged the Iranian National Tax Administration with collecting 30% of overdue taxes in the current fiscal that ends on March 20.
As per an amendment to Note 6 of the budget bill, INTA should collect taxes levied on the purchasing invoices and Point-Of-Sale systems within its legal jurisdiction, the parliamentary news website ICANA reported.
MPs also voted to enforce fines equal to 2% of the total value of deposits held with banks and credit institutions if the entities refuse to abide by the this measure. This penalty would be in addition to fines stipulated in the Direct Taxation Act for non-abiding banks and credit institutions.
The measure also obliges insurance companies to present all the information regarding the identity and financial status of legal and natural entities sought by INTA.
Insurers that fail to comply will face fines equal to 5% of the premium they earned by the end of current fiscal in the addition to penalties outlined in DTA law.
Based on another decision, lawmakers voted to deduct 10% of the total earnings of medical doctors working in all hospitals and clinical centers in the form of provisional tax to be deposited with INTA.
The tax will be levied on clinical bills sent to the health insurance companies or the cash paid by patients, not covering the regular salary doctors receive from the institutions they work for.
MPs made it mandatory for all those in the medical profession, including dentists, pharmacists, and related occupations, to install POS devices in their workplace.
The decision which is another amendment to the budget law was made in a bid to allegedly fight tax evasion by prominent physicians who have little or no time for tax laws.
In a verbal warning on Tuesday, MP Nasrollah Pejmanfar, claimed that 67.7 trillion rials ($515 million) in unpaid taxes by physicians is reported annually, citing a survey published by the Majlis Research Center.
Masoud Pezeshkian, a Majlis deputy speaker, who was presiding over the plenary session, denied that the law-making institution and the society at large believe that “physicians are involved in tax fraud.”
In another tax-related subject, lawmakers on Tuesday set tax exemptions on monthly wages below 27.5 million rials ($208) for the next fiscal year.
