On the agenda of the session of the Board of Directors of Indirect Taxation Authority (ITA) BiH will be included changes to the Law on Excise Duties, which stipulates the introduction of a moratorium on further increases of excise duties on cigarettes during the next three years.
As stipulated by the current legal provisions, excise duties on tobacco are increased every year, at least 15 fening per cigarette pack.
According to information from ITA BiH, the amount of fixed excises was increased by 1.2 BAM per cigarette box in the period from 2009 to 2017. Revenues from excise duties in the first year of collection amounted to a total of 449.4 million BAM, and they are further increased every year. Last year, they were doubled and amounted to 807.7 million BAM.
Due to this large increase in tobacco excises, the black market of tobacco and tobacco processing appeared in BiH, which led to numerous actions by police agencies and tax inspectors.
(Source: A. D./Klix.ba)