A Chamber of Tax Consultants will be established in Belarus. This was announced in Grodno at a roundtable meeting dedicated to the prospects of tax services for enterprises, by the head of the UNDP and Ministry of Taxes and Duties project "Assistance in the Establishment of the Institute of Tax Consultants in the Republic of Belarus", Candidate of Economic Sciences Taisiya Yeletskikh, to a BELTA correspondent.
A Chamber of Tax Consultants will be established in Belarus. This was announced in Grodno at a roundtable meeting dedicated to the prospects of tax services for enterprises, by the head of the UNDP and Ministry of Taxes and Duties project "Assistance in the Establishment of the Institute of Tax Consultants in the Republic of Belarus", Candidate of Economic Sciences Taisiya Yeletskikh, to a BELTA correspondent.
According to the project manager, a decree establishing the institute of tax consulting may be signed in Belarus as early as this year. For now, within the framework of the aforementioned UNDP project, training for the country's first tax consultants will begin in October. These consultants will subsequently have to pass a qualifying examination (QE) for admission to the profession. However, this is not the entire path required for the new system to become operational. "To become a tax consultant, one must pass the QE, obtain civil liability insurance, and become a member of the Chamber of Tax Consultants," said Taisiya Yeletskikh.
She explained that the Chamber of Tax Consultants (CTC) will be established in Belarus once a "critical mass" of certified tax consultants is reached – at least 50 individuals. "Most likely, we will not manage to establish the Chamber of Tax Consultants within the current UNDP project, but UNDP will seek donors to provide support for the establishment of the chamber at the next stage," the project manager stated.
The Chamber of Tax Consultants is an essential element of an effective tax consultancy institution. "It will be a non-profit organisation, but without membership in the Chamber, tax consultants will not have access to the profession. In essence, the Chamber will grant this access. When it is established, self-regulation tools will be incorporated, and some of the state's control functions will be transferred to the Chamber itself. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure that all tax consultants are members," said Taisiya Yeletskikh. Furthermore, it is very important that the Chamber of Tax Consultants becomes the mediator through which most disputes in the field of taxation will be settled out of court. Additionally, based on the experience of foreign countries, contentious issues and complexities arising from conflicting tax interests of parties are placed on a "red list" by the Chamber's members and then addressed through dialogue between the Chamber of Tax Consultants and the Ministry of Taxes and Duties, leading to a consensus. All of this is vital for establishing civilised tax control mechanisms in the country and for creating a positive tax image for the state as a whole.
Taisiya Yeletskikh reported that the demand for tax consultants worldwide is currently high. It is generally accepted that there should be 1 tax consultant per 1,000 inhabitants. For example, in Germany, over 80,000 certified tax consultants are active, and more than 9,000 legal entities provide these services. In the Czech Republic, approximately 4,000 tax consultants are certified, and in Russia, there are 7,000, although the country states a need for 155,000 such specialists.