With the completion of the public consultation on the tax reform bills to be completed on 10 September, the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce & Industry (CCCI) and Cyprus Employers & Industrialists Federation (OEB) now appear to be on the same wavelength and largely agreeing with the Ministry of Finance regarding the content of the upcoming tax transformation.
Following the meetings they had recently with Tax Commissioner Soteris Markides, during which they presented their own thoughts, concerns and concerns, with particular satisfaction, the CCCI and OEB saw Finance Minister Makis Keravnos announce specific changes that the government intends to make to the bills and which move precisely in the direction of allaying their own concerns.
It is recalled that Makis Keravnos announced the withdrawal/replacement of the provision for determining the salaries of business executives by the Tax Commissioner, the introduction of additional safeguards in relation to the sealing of businesses, as well as the development of concerns about the resulting "superpowers" of the Commissioner.
At the same time, according to InBusinessNews sources, the Ministry of Finance appears ready for a series of other changes to the bills, especially on provisions that cause reasonable disagreements among the business world.
This development, namely the now apparent convergence of approaches between the CCCI and OEB on the one hand and the Ministry of Finance on the other, is considered extremely important for the effort that the government will make from now on to create conditions of maximum consensus, both in the field of business and at a political level, especially in Parliament.
It is for this reason, moreover, on the latter, that the Minister of Finance will meet with the party leaderships again next Monday (15 September), to whom he will make clear his readiness to listen to and adopt their own proposals and recommendations, but also to reiterate at the same time his determination to withdraw the reform in the event that the parties attempt to bring about changes that are not consistent with the philosophy that the government wants to give it. The goal of its implementation from 1 January, 2026, meanwhile, remains unchanged.
Philokypros Roussounides: A step in the right direction
In statements to InBusinessNews, when asked to comment on the Finance Minister's announcements, the Secretary General of the CCCI, Philokypros Roussounides, stated that "what the Finance Minister announced is a step in the right direction."
As he explained, "on the one hand, he listens to the concerns and complexity that some points may have created, and on the other hand, he shows that the government is not dogmatic - just like himself, of course."
According to Roussounides, "our very important and substantial suggestions for improving or amending some provisions included in the bills were listened to."
"During our meeting with the Tax Commissioner, with whom we had an excellent and very constructive meeting, several of our concerns were addressed," Roussounides noted, underlining that "he was open, we spoke honestly."
"I think it seems that we are moving in the right direction to build a stable, simplified tax system that has some safety controls, in order to strengthen the state's tax collection capacity, but also to crack down - as much as possible - on tax evasion," he further indicated.
Beyond that, continued the Secretary General of the CCCI, "of course a tax system must not only be a means of collecting revenue, but at the same time be attractive, stable and fast, so that we can also attract foreign investments to our island, which we hope will have this outcome."
Asked whether, following these moves, the Chamber's concerns regarding certain aspects of the promoted tax reform have been allayed, Roussounides responded in the affirmative, noting that "several of them have been allayed."
"I must say that as a Chamber, we submitted a specific document to the Tax Commissioner and within the next few hours (today) we will submit our final positions on all the tax transformation bills within the framework of the public consultation, which concludes on Wednesday," he concluded.
Michael Antoniou: Completely in harmony with what the Minister of Finance announced
On his part, the Director General of OEB, Michael Antoniou, speaking to InBusinessNews, emphasised that "we had discussed all the points mentioned by the Minister of Finance in detail during our meeting with the Tax Commissioner, where we reached a modus operandi for the future, because the goal is common."
As he explained, "it is not only the government's goal, but it is also the goal of the OEB, for the state to have effective tools at its disposal to be able to crack down on tax evasion and reduce the underground economy. This is also our desire and pursuit."
"There must be the necessary safeguards to prevent people who will come in the future and who may not have the same awareness that the competent officials have today from crossing the lines. That is, there must be objective, neutral safeguards, so that it does not depend on who the official is who is handling an issue each time," he pointed out.
According to Antoniou, "we are completely in line with what the Minister of Finance described and this adjustment is to a large extent - I believe - a product of the consultation that took place with the OEB."
OEB bringing back proposals on a series of issues
Asked about the next steps, the Director General of the OEB told InBusinessNews that "we are now trying - and will do so - to initiate and restore the political decisions that have to do with reducing labour costs, such as employers' contributions to the redundancy fund and the social cohesion fund, and which are not of a technocratic nature, but of a political nature."
At the same time, he continued, "we will also bring back and give a reminder about a number of targeted proposals for focused incentives of a development nature, which aim at strategic priority sectors for the Cypriot economy and which are also not provided for in the bills."
"Although, however, they are not included in the bills, we believe that they are incentives that should be examined by the state and, either at this stage or in the immediate future, as many of them as can be adopted, adopted and begin to be implemented," Antoniou concluded.
(Source: InBusinessNews)
