Bosnia and Herzegovina: Indirect Taxation Authority of Bosnia and Herzegovina introduces electronic services

January 30 2018

On November 16 2017, the governing board of the Indirect Taxation Authority (ITA) issued the Instruction on the Registration of Users of the ITA Electronic Services (the Instruction). The Instruction entered into force on December 9 2017.

All taxpayers are obliged to register for ITA e-services via the ITA official portal by January 1 2019 at the latest. However, large taxpayers that opt for using e-services will be registered automatically by February 1 2018. Large taxpayers are considered banks, insurance companies and all other taxpayers which had a total sum of output and input VAT of BAM 1.6 million ($985,400) or more in the period between August 1 2016 and July 31 2017.

According to the Instruction, the ITA distinguishes between primary and secondary users as regards those who will have access to the e-portal. A primary user is a company's representative registered as an e-portal user. An application for registration of primary users is submitted by the company's representative by filling out the relevant form on the e-portal. A secondary user is a person appointed and authorised by a primary user and each secondary user can have different types of access permission. The Instruction stipulates that one person can be a primary and/or secondary user for one or more taxpayers.

The data from the electronically submitted VAT returns will be considered to be valid, and the amounts reported will form the basis for all subsequent actions of the tax authority (tax audits, VAT refunds, revenue distribution to beneficiaries, and so on).

There is no doubt that electronic communication between the ITA and taxpayers will have substantial advantages for both sides. A particular advantage both for the ITA and the taxpayer is the avoidance of the delivery costs of hard copy VAT forms. The taxpayers will have 24/7 access to their data via the e-portal (VAT returns, payments, liabilities), while the possibility of errors during the ITA's processing of VAT returns will be substantially reduced.