Azerbaijan exempts medical institutions from tax

Tax relief for medical institutions will be applied, Azernews reports. This is stated in the information released by the State Tax Service.

It was reported that the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, signed a decree on the implementation of the law dated December 5, 2023, On Amendments to the Tax Code and the regulation of several issues arising from it.

"As in previous years, the main target directions of the changes made in the Tax Code this time are optimisation of the tax burden of entrepreneurial activity subjects, promotion of entrepreneurial activity, reduction of the tax burden of the population with social tax concessions, and improvement of measures to combat the shadow economy.

The State Tax Service under the Ministry of Economy presents the changes and their justification to the attention of the public in part.

One of the important changes in the direction of reducing the tax burden of business and promoting entrepreneurship is related to the introduction of tax relief for medical institutions. For transparency of operations in the field of healthcare and optimisation of the tax burden, VAT concessions were given to medical institutions and persons engaged in private medical practice.

According to the latest changes in the legislation, 50 percent of the turnover of healthcare institutions and individuals engaged in private medical practice during the reporting period, formed based on cashless payments made through POS terminals for medical services provided to the population, will be taxed for 3 years from January 1, 2024. It is intended to be deducted from the total turnover. At the same time, when calculating the state budget, the income obtained from the reduction of the VAT amount is exempt from income and profit taxes.

This change, which envisages significant tax relief for medical institutions, will have a positive effect on increasing transparency in that sector as well as stimulating non-cash payments."