BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 29. An amendment to Article 35 of the Tax Code, introduced late last year, concerning the procedure for opening taxpayers' accounts in banks and other organizations engaged in banking activities in Azerbaijan will come into force on October 1 this year, Trend reports.
According to the State Tax Service under the Ministry of Economy, under the current legislation, taxpayers initially submit an application to the tax authority to open an account in banks, other credit organizations, as well as in the offices of the national postal operator. Based on this application, the tax authority issues a duplicate certificate (valid for 10 days) within two days if the taxpayer has no arrears of taxes, interest, or financial penalties to the budget. In the case of arrears, the opening of a bank account is refused.
As a result of the amendments to the legislation, the requirement for a taxpayer to obtain a duplicate of a tax authority certificate in order to open an account is abolished, and accounts will be opened on the basis of a direct application from the taxpayer to persons carrying out banking operations. After the new amendments come into force, taxpayers with tax debts to the budget, as well as interest debts and financial penalties, will also be able to open bank accounts. Thus, the legal restriction on opening an account for unscrupulous taxpayers will be removed.
In addition, persons carrying out banking operations will open an account on the basis of the taxpayer's application and send information electronically to the tax authority within 1 working day from the day of account opening.
When taxpayers' accounts are closed by persons carrying out banking operations, information on this will be submitted electronically to the State Tax Service within 1 working day from the day of closing the account.