Digital Tax Office era in the fight against the informal economy

Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek evaluated the new regulations introduced through communiqués published in the Official Gazette today, as well as the new system to be used for fuel purchases, in order to combat the informal economy.

Stating that the Revenue Administration will now launch the Digital Tax Office as part of its electronic applications, Şimşek said that services offered in the electronic environment will be consolidated under a single roof, providing taxpayers with easy, fast, and secure access to electronic applications.

Noting that the Digital Tax Office, developed to make greater use of the opportunities provided by information technologies, will serve at the address "dijital.gib.gov.tr", Şimşek said, "The Digital Tax Office can be easily used for submitting documents such as declarations, notifications, and petitions electronically, and for receiving the results of transactions related to these documents, as well as for fulfilling tax-related obligations. Applications developed by the Administration, which currently require logging in from different internet addresses, such as the Interactive Tax Office, Electronic Declaration System, Internet Tax Office, and Ready Declaration System, will now be accessible through the Digital Tax Office."

Şimşek stated that all transactions can be performed without going to the tax office via the Digital Tax Office, and that some processes such as tax liability and "No debt" certificates can be carried out entirely in the electronic environment, and continued as follows:

"All transactions in the Internet Tax Office and Interactive Tax Office will be gradually moved to the Digital Tax Office, ensuring that taxpayers can perform their transactions from a single point. The Administration, which is also developing artificial intelligence applications for taxation services, will, in the coming period, carry out the transactions performed by the tax office upon taxpayer applications through the Digital Tax Office using robotic processes and artificial intelligence technologies. Taxpayers' transactions will be resolved instantly without having to go to the tax office. Fulfilling tax obligations will be easier and faster."

COLLATERAL FACILITY TO BE PROVIDED

Reminding that another communiqué introduces a mandatory requirement for new and existing distributors, dealers, or mineral oil license holders, as well as manufacturers and importers of bandrolled products, to provide collateral against potential tax debts, Şimşek said, "In this context, surety bonds issued by insurance companies are being added to the values that can be provided as collateral. Thus, the assets that taxpayers can provide as collateral have been diversified and access to finance has been facilitated."

Furthermore, emphasizing that as part of efforts to expand the scope of e-Document applications, a mandatory requirement to join the e-invoice application has been introduced for taxpayers who have received a charging network operator license from the Energy Market Regulatory Authority and for charging station operators certified by these taxpayers, Şimşek stated the following:

"The relevant communiqué has also been published. Charging network and charging station operators providing services to electric vehicles will switch to e-invoicing as of January 2, 2024. These taxpayers will be required to issue an e-invoice or e-archive invoice for the service provided, regardless of the amount related to the charging service. Again, these taxpayers will be required to issue invoices at the time of delivery. In some exceptional cases, invoices may be issued within 7 days."

INVOICE AMOUNT THAT CAN BE ISSUED UNDER THE NAME OF 'FINAL CONSUMER' HAS CHANGED

Şimşek underlined that it is mandatory to include information about the persons who purchased the goods or services on the invoice, and made the following assessment:

"Those who are exempt from using cash registers due to meeting certain conditions such as total assets or equity, as well as those benefiting from the Secure Mobile Payment and Electronic Document Management System, will now be able to issue e-archive invoices under the name of 'final consumer' without including buyer information for sales of goods and services up to 4,400 liras. Thus, the e-archive invoice amount that can be issued under the name of final consumer has been increased from 500 liras to 4,400 liras. These innovations will both reduce compliance costs for taxpayers and increase the administration's analysis and audit capacity. With the expansion of the scope of electronic documents and the instant arrival of the information contained in these documents to the Administration's systems, taxpayer-based or sector-based analyses will be able to be performed rapidly. Possible informal activities of taxpayers whose revenue and expenditures are monitored electronically will be easily detected, and the effectiveness of audit activities will be increased."

A NEW PAGE IN THE FIGHT AGAINST THE INFORMAL ECONOMY

Reminding that the National Vehicle Identification System, which will ensure that vehicle license plates are transmitted automatically to new-generation cash registers without being typed manually during fuel purchases, will be implemented with a communiqué recently published in the Official Gazette, Şimşek pointed out that a mandatory requirement to use a vehicle identification system for fuel purchases has been introduced to prevent erroneous and irregular transactions.

Şimşek stated, "Our government, which has taken a series of measures to ensure competitive equality in the fuel market, one of the sectors where informality is high, and to effectively combat the informal economy, has now opened a new page in the fight against informality by introducing a mandatory requirement to use a vehicle identification system for fuel purchases."

Minister Şimşek noted that the system will prevent the issuance of receipts for a license plate other than the vehicle receiving fuel, and provided the information that, "The system will be mandatory for fuel and LPG purchases made for vehicles used by taxpayers in their business as of January 1, 2025."

LEGAL ACTION FOR IRREGULAR TRANSACTIONS

Sharing the information that a vehicle identification unit containing information about the vehicle, such as a ring and label, will be attached to the fuel tank inlets of vehicles owned, leased, and used by taxpayers in their business, Şimşek summarized the operation of the system as follows:

"A vehicle identification reader device will be attached to the nozzles of fuel pumps. As a result of the vehicle identification reader device reading the vehicle identification unit, the vehicle license plate will be securely transmitted automatically to the new-generation pump cash registers. After the fuel is dispensed, the receipt will be issued automatically, including information indicating that it was issued within the scope of the system. The electronic communication between the vehicle identification reader devices attached to fuel pumps and the vehicle identification units attached to the fuel tanks of vehicles during fuel purchases will serve to prevent irregularities in the sector. Using the information transmitted instantly to the Revenue Administration within the scope of the system, taxpayers' expense records will be able to be checked, sectoral analyses will be able to be performed, and most importantly, those who attempt irregular transactions will be identified and legal action will be taken against them."

Şimşek pointed out that taxpayers will not be able to use receipts not issued through the system in documenting their expenses, noting that this will prevent the issuance and use of fake documents in the sector, and that the system will be established and operated by the General Directorate of the Mint and Stamp Printing House.