At the session of the Economic and Social Council of FBiH yesterday, the law on the fiscalization of transactions, proposed by the federal Ministry of Finance, was presented.
Better billing
– This law enables the achievement of two goals, namely the precise determination of the amount of VAT collected within the Federation, and the precise determination of other tax liabilities arising from those transactions. The most important is the supervision of transactions, which is ensured by several levels of fiscal stability of public finances, because the efficiency in the collection of both indirect and direct taxes increases, thereby reducing the space for tax evasion and the informal economy, which contributes to a more stable and fair tax system, said Kraljević.
The purpose of the new law is to establish a comprehensive reporting system for the Tax Administration on business transactions, provide free applications for small fiscal taxpayers, reduce tax evasion through cross-checking of data in the Tax Administration, then harmonize with European directives and modernize the tax system, increase the efficiency of tax collection and suppress the gray economy.
The law will be on the agenda of the next session of the FBiH Government, and its application is expected from July 1, 2026, when other laws related to reducing the workload will be passed.
The President of the Economic and Social Council of FBiH Safudin Čengić says that the law is of exceptional quality, and that on November 26, a new session of the ESV will be held where the lowest salary for 2026 will be discussed.
Prime Minister Nermin Nikšić said that the text of the law on fiscalization was presented to employers and social partners, which will be sent to the FBiH Government for consideration at the beginning of next week.
– If everything goes according to plan, the law will enter into force on January 1, followed by a six-month trial period. As of July 1, we are entering the practical system of VAT and fiscalization, and we are in a position to reduce the gray economy to the smallest measure, said Nikšić.
He emphasized that in Bosnia and Herzegovina, about 18.6 percent of the gross national product falls on the gray economy, and that Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina are at the very top among the countries facing this problem.
The presentation of the Bill was preceded by a 128-day public discussion, in which 60 subjects participated, namely 14 representatives and delegates of both houses of the Parliament of the Federation, 22 natural persons, 16 associations, agencies, foundations and administrative bodies, and 8 companies. The key goal of adopting the law is to suppress the gray economy, and in the form in which it was proposed, it means facilitating the business of companies in the FBiH.
Almedin Kadrić, a member of the working group of the Federation of Employers’ Association, previously said that this law contributes to the modernization and improvement of the fiscal system.
– We had an objection to the fact that the draft is not harmonized with the law in RS, and I think that there will be a problem in the business of companies between the entities. I believe that the two laws should have been merged into one. According to Kadrić, the law on e-account should have been at the state level as a single one, to give basic guidelines to all entities in the state, and the law on fiscalization at the entity level, that is, those accounts that are made in retail.
Abolition of the limit
Economist and federal representative from SBiH Admir Čavalić is skeptical about the implementation, which has been postponed until next year.
– Several things are important to emphasize. It is good that the system is being improved, but one should be a skeptic on several grounds, the first of which relates to limits and boundaries in the fiscalization process, because 5,000 marks from annual turnover were previously mentioned. I hope that the requests of several of our representatives to change that and to abolish that limit for natural persons have been accepted. Also, I think that the law will not reduce the rate of the gray economy, but will only widen the base for taxation. The question is how and whether this law will deal with the gray economy and in what way, says Čavalić, reports Liberation.
