The American Chamber of Commerce in Kyrgyzstan expressed serious concern about the actions of the Tax Service when interacting with producers and distributors of soft drinks. Appeal of the organization says.
With the adoption of the new Tax Code of the Kyrgyz Republic, the country introduced an excise tax on energy soft drinks. They are classified in the commodity heading of the TN VED code 2202.
«Recently, we have been receiving information that the Tax Service authorities, broadly interpreting the norms of the Tax Code, are calling on producers and distributors of soft drinks to pay excise duty on sugar-containing soft drinks, justifying this by the fact that sugar-containing soft drinks fall under one classification of the TN VED code with energy soft drinks,» the American Chamber of Commerce said.
The excise rate on energy drinks from July 1, 2022 is 1 som per 1 liter (with a subsequent increase to 20 soms per 1 liter from 2023 and 30 soms per 1 liter from 2024).
It turns out that any soft drink in the near future will cost 20 or 30 soms more.
«In this situation, the end consumer will suffer first of all, because any increase in the tax burden on the producer of consumer goods directly influences the final cost of the goods. We receive information from some companies about the initiation of unscheduled tax audits. Moreover, these companies are representatives of world famous brands. There is a paradox — on the one hand, the state is taking certain steps to support entrepreneurs, in particular domestic producers, and on the other hand, it creates additional barriers to doing business by creating a new type of tax,» the business association believes.
