The Indirect Tax Authority (ITA) of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced on Friday that the support for the harmonization of BiH's tax policy with the regulations of the European Union (EU) would continue in the coming period.

Johann Sattler, the Head of the Delegation of the European Union and EU Special Representative in BiH and Zoran Tegeltija, Director of the Indirect Taxation Authority (ITA) of BiH, announced, in Banja Luka, the start of another significant project to strengthen the efficiency and ITA's capacity by implementing best practices and legislation on indirect taxation following European Union practices.

The EU continuously supports Bosnia on the road to accession with various instruments.

Twinning projects offer invaluable opportunities for the exchange of best practices and direct cooperation with EU member states. This project, worth € 1 million, will involve more than 50 experts from member states and will last until September 2025.

Ambassador Sattler emphasized that the harmonization of customs and tax legislation with that of the EU is of the greatest importance for BiH.

“We have supported the Indirect Taxation Authority since the beginning, for more than twenty years, which we will continue to do. Support usually comes through twinning projects that transfer best practices from member countries to countries that want to become EU members. Basically, it is about the transfer of legislation to those who want to join the EU. It is a big task, 100,000 legal acts that you have to transfer into your legislation, and the key part relates to customs and taxes,” said Ambassador Sattler.

The primary goal of this project is the harmonization of the work procedures of the ITA standards with the European Union, which will be implemented in four components: harmonization in the area of customs and taxation, support to the Department for Risk Analysis and ITA Management, support to the Internal Audit Department and support to the professional team in the implementation of the action plan of the coordinating body for financial activities.

Director Zoran Tegeltija said that ITA has implemented 14 projects in seven years and that this is a message that there is trust between that institution and the European Union.

“This project is not big financially, we implemented much bigger projects with the European Union. What we expect is that by cooperating with experts from EU countries, this time from Italy and Lithuania, we will improve our legislation, but also improve certain practices that are very important to us. The result of that expectation is that we will have better tax and customs regulations,” he declared.

The expected results of the project are the drafting of a proposal for a decision on the implementation of the new Law on Customs Policy of BiH and the updating or drafting of by-laws and instructions on customs, excise and VAT procedures.

Other activities foreseen by the project are the adoption of compliance risk management procedures, training of internal auditors and training of customs officers on cash control.

The project is implemented by the Italian Agency for Customs and Monopolies, the Customs Department of Lithuania, the Italian Revenue Agency and EUTALIA, the mandated body responsible for the administrative, financial and logistical implementation of the project.