Gov’t Says Improving Tax Collection System

EghtesadOnline: To streamline tax regime and improve collections, the Central Bank of Iran says about 8.5 million point-of-sale terminals and payment gateways are now connected to electronic portals of the Iranian National Tax Administration (INTA).

News ID: ۷۸۶۶۴۶

12 July 2021

Transactions via these payment instruments are directly relayed to the tax authority giving it a clear picture about the income of businesses.

“The CBI has deactivated 2.5 million POS terminals and payment gateways whose users did not comply with the tax regulations” Davoud Mohammad-Beigi, head of CBI's Department of Payment Systems was quoted by Ebinews, the news agency covering e-banking.

The measure is in line with law to tax transactions via POS machines, which came into effect in January. As per the rules, businesses wanting to apply for POS or other payment gateways have to first file tax returns and those who already own the gadgets will be automatically liable to pay tax.

New rules have been crafted to improve INTA’s supervision over transactions and curb tax evasion and fraud, particularly in the high-income brackets like lawyers, physicians and realtors --some of whom are notorious for evading tax.

Regulations are also designed to discourage illegal activities using rented payment gateways. The CBI is hopeful that the measures will help in tracking money laundering and online betting because owners of the gateways will be held accountable and must pay tax.

Following the measures and after the CBI determined the identity of POS users, Mohammad-Beigi said use of rented gateways had declined and that 7.5 million POS terminals are operated by their owners.

Tax officials emphasize that closer interaction between INTA and CBI is crucial to fight tax evasion by monitoring e-payments. This is because control over POS devices is beyond INTA’s purview and is the responsibility of Shaparak, the nationwide electronic payment settlement network affiliated to the CBI.