Parliament holds last session of year

By Amina Nazarli

The last plenary session of the Azerbaijani Parliament for 2016 kicked off on December 30, while the parliamentarians considered 25 issues during the session.

The parliamentarians have already approved a draft law "On regulation of tax debts of taxpayers from January 1, 2017", stipulating tax amnesty.

The tax amnesty will cover more than 44,700 representatives of the private sector including 1,037 in public sector.  

The bill covers two types of tax debts: the first article of the bill envisages cancellation of all interest accrued for non-payment of debt, and the second article - writing-off of the financial sanctions.

In case of repayment of one third of the financial sanctions during January 2017, remaining 70 percent will be written off. In case of repayment of half of tax sanctions during January-February, other 50 percent will be written off, while if 70 percent of financial sanctions during repaid in January-March, remaining 30 percent will be written off.

The Parliament also sent a message to world Azerbaijanis on the occasion on December 31 -- Solidarity Day of World Azerbaijanis, calling for the preservation of national traditions and spiritual values of the Azerbaijani people.

The appeal emphasizes that the Azerbaijanis all over the world have one important task -- to preserve national values, customs and traditions of the people, and achievement of this goal requires efforts of all Azerbaijanis in the world.