Rescued taxes and values
By Elsa Claro
HAVANA – The payment of taxes, something habitual everywhere in the world, is a novelty that has not been practiced by Cubans for decades. Some never paid them. The older Cubans remember them vaguely and in general, if they owned some business or enterprise, because public employees had their taxes deducted from their salaries.
From now until March 30, the 362,000 persons who in the past year became self-employed also became taxpayers.
Those who for a while have worked in different trades or personal work under contract have some experience in filling the complex forms issued by the National Office of Tax Management, but that task is always complicated. Therefore, the offices in every municipality are filled with people who come to seek help with the calculations and fill the forms, where they put down their revenues and expenditures, among other details.
For those who prefer to work with computers, a digital system is on sale that facilitates the operations involved in paying personal taxes. The system, designed in accordance to the laws on tax matters, is called Cuentas Claras – Clear Accounts.
The National Association of Economists and Accountants of Cuba (ANEC) is now giving courses for bookkeepers and tax collectors/payers, two trades that have been added to 181 trades that currently exist. The ANEC also offers courses in marketing, management and various transactions, among the disciplines that are required from the new Cuban entrepreneurs.
That training is given both to those who are establishing (or about to create) small businesses and to specialists who will work in them. The director of the firm or cooperative is also required to take the course.
The importance of these steps lies in the increase in self-employed workers and owners of service trades. Their number is expected to rise to 600,000 this year and to more than 1 million in 2015.
Another novelty in the sector, among the recent openings, is the unionizing of self-employed workers in the private sector. According to reports from the Cuban Workers’ Central, 80 percent of them have joined that organization.
As a complement to this body of actions, the National Union of Jurists is working with its professionals to master the changes in the nation’s fiscal policy and improve its skills in Corporate Business Law, so it can properly deal with domestic and international business issues, particularly in terms of arbitration, where the foreign parties are usually better prepared than Cuban parties.
New times required diverse and vigorous actions. And faced with changes, we must preserve what’s constructive and discard all hindrances.
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