The National Tax Inspectorate (VMI) comments to “The Postedia” that in the agricultural and forestry sectors, 70% of violations are detected when checking the order of service receipts. case.
Service revenue: the range of offenses is wide
If a person is employed to provide agricultural or forestry services, it is not necessary to conclude an employment contract, a simplified procedure is provided – such services can be formalized more easily.
VMI announces that a service receipt can be issued for the purchase of agricultural and forestry services from natural persons, temporary or occasional and not requiring special skills.
“In 2022, the tax administration carried out checks on 103 taxpayers in this regard and found 104 violations,” comments Judita Stankienė, head of the Kaunas County State Tax Inspectorate (AVMI).
Among the violations, 5 cases of illegal work, 33 cases of non-issuance of second copies of service receipts, 54 cases of incorrectly completed service receipts and 12 cases of other violations, such as the procedure for filing tax declarations, have been identified.
During the months of January to May 2023, 24 entities in the agricultural and forestry sector were inspected and 26 violations were noted: 3 cases of illegal work, 10 cases of non-issuance of second copies of service receipts, 9 cases of incorrectly completed service receipts, and 4 cases of other violations.
“It is estimated that 8 out of 10 audited taxpayers committed violations,” says J. Stankienė.
Pay taxes: if you exceed the limit, you will have to pay
During accounting checks of short-term unskilled agricultural and forestry work, some of the most common errors are noted: when filling out service receipts, all the necessary data is not recorded or a second copy of this receipt is not not issued to the service provider, service receipts are not filled out before starting to provide services or are not issued at all.
There are also isolated cases where long-term services are provided, although receipts for services can only be used for short-term work that does not require special skills or qualifications, for example: manual planting of plantations forests, harvesting agricultural crops, collecting stones.
A few other activities that can be recorded with service receipts: digging, picking fruit, digging reeds into ponds, cutting down beaver dams, hanging nests, putting out forest fires, driving cattle to and from pasture, and other works, the full list of which is HERE.
“With regard to the field of agriculture and forestry, most of the agricultural work is carried out during the summer period, which is why VMI will also be attentive to the correct execution of the seasonal services carried out according to the service receipts “, explains J. Stankienė.
The Ministry of Agriculture (Ž®M) recalls that personal income tax (PIT) is not levied on the income of the service provider, received by the provision of services according to the service receipt, if they have not exceeded 1750 euros during the taxable period.
An amount exceeding EUR 1,750 per tax period is taxed at 15%. income tax rate. In this case, income is calculated, declared and income tax is paid by the provider himself.
Service recipients pay compulsory health insurance (PSD) premiums for service providers – 6.98%. the amount of remuneration calculated for each person who provided services per month. The PSD premium must be paid regardless of whether the service provider is already insured for that month.
Persons registered as unemployed with the Employment Service, who started to provide services on the basis of receipts, do not lose their unemployment status and the benefits they receive.
ŽűM reminds that when using service receipts, the number of days of service delivery is limited. For one service recipient, the service provider has the right to provide services no more than 60 days per calendar year, and for several service recipients – no more than 90 days.
If the recipient of the services wishes to receive services for a longer period than that provided by law, he must conclude an employment contract.
Seasonal work contracts are another way to formalize the activity
Seasonal work is work which, due to natural and climatic conditions, is not carried out all year round, but at certain times (seasons). A seasonal employment contract can be concluded for one season, which does not exceed 8 months over a period of 12 consecutive months, or for several seasons, or for an indefinite period.
Seasonal work includes construction and other related work performed outdoors and in unheated premises, as well as agricultural, forestry, labor and other work.
List of seasonal jobs:
Employees who work for a season do not receive annual leave, and when terminated, they receive cash compensation for unused leave.
VDI mentioned to “The Postedia” that according to the data received from “Sodra”, 638,978 of the total employment contracts were concluded in 2022, of which 4,490 were seasonal employment contracts. Consequently, only 1.42% of seasonal employment contracts are concluded. of all types of employment contracts. However, the VDI does not collect separate statistics on offenses committed during seasonal work (data are not collected according to the types of employment contracts).
Farms inspected: receipts used instead of contracts
Kaunas AVMI reported in April that it found 670 people illegally employed at two vegetable farms in Kaunas County, working with receipts for agricultural and forestry services, although depending on the nature of the work, they had to enter into employment contracts. It is estimated that around 244,000 were not paid as a result. taxes in euros.
The aforementioned employees performed various jobs in a streamlined manner throughout the year under the cover of service receipts, although the jobs performed were not one-time, temporary. It is estimated that more than 150,000 people may have been hidden because of this. EUR GPM and 94 thousand EUR VSD contributions. Administrative offense reports were drawn up for those responsible for illegal work and an administrative fine was imposed.
According to legal acts, a violation of the procedure of commercial or economic activity entails a fine of 390 to 1100 euros, repeated violations from 1100 to 1950 euros.
VMI, commenting on the framework for seasonal work, said Delphiwhich nonetheless focuses on the risks and areas of economic activity that have the greatest impact on fiscal revenues, where the magnitude of revenue recognition and tax evasion is greatest.
According to J. Stankiene, the priority remains the reduction of the VAT gap (i.e. the collection of taxes), efforts are made to avoid taxes on profits or employment, the avoidance of revenue recognition in retail and services in various ways.
“As for areas of economic activity, construction, used car trade, retail and wholesale trade and the transport sector remain on the agenda.
VMI is guided by the idea that the tendency to tax evasion is a characteristic of specific taxpayers and not of economic activities, and in recent years has paid more attention to consumption for private needs and e-commerce. in space”, explains the VMI representative.
Source: The Delfi
