Azerbaijan to introduce restrictions on the purchase-sale operations

The Azerbaijani government plans to introduce restrictions on the purchase-sale operations within one transaction and one month in cash to promote non-cash payments in the country.

The draft amendments to the Tax Code will limit physical entities' cash transactions within one transaction at the level of 5,000 manat, and within a month - to the amount of 20,000 manat, a government source informed press.

Increasing the volume of cashless payments is one of the main sources of significant expansion of tax base. So Azerbaijan intends to achieve the level of advanced European countries in this sphere in the near future.

At present, the amount of restrictions is being debated as most people are not ready to work with the POS-terminals. Accordingly, the restrictions may have certain impact on the population.

The best variant for increasing interest in non-cash payments is the introduction of forced-restrictive measures in respect of trading facilities and service areas and incentives increasing the interest in making cashless payment in respect of the public.

The Ministry of Taxes examines the world experience in using e-commerce in taxation. The inquiry was sent to the European Organization of Tax Administrations (IOTA). By examining European experience in the country's tax legislation, stimulating and administrative measures are planned to be held in this area.
According to the Ministry of Taxes, the number of active POS-terminals in Azerbaijan is 30,940.

More than 17,000 POS-terminals were installed and registered at 14,000 facilities in Baku from February to May 2012.
At present, about 30,940 active POS-terminals were installed at 26,443 facilities, of which 28,976 or 93.7 per cent in Baku. The process of installing POS-terminals in hotels, filling stations, centers of trade, leisure and entertainment, medical facilities has been completed.

Moreover, the process of installing POS-terminals in the field of transport is underway. In particular, they were installed in more than 830 taxis.

According to the ministry, the necessary infrastructure was created for non-cash payments in the country. In particular, there are 4.6 million plastic cards in circulation in the country. However, their use is inadequate.