2024-06-08 16:47:44
Entrepreneurs offering lodging companies should enter their names, surnames, private doc quantity into the digital system inside 24 hours of their keep and retailer this knowledge for five years.
Kaunas officers wish to get the info sooner
On the Kaunas Municipality Management Committee assembly held on the finish of April, Aistė Lukaševičiūtė, Head of the Investments and Tasks Division, introduced the challenges the town faces when making an attempt to gather the obligatory pillow tax within the price range. In keeping with her, it isn’t so troublesome to manage authorized entities, as a result of they’ve the duty to register within the digital system.
“I might separate the management measures and the state of affairs into two areas – pure and authorized individuals. The management of authorized entities is easier, as a result of they report on earnings, have paperwork on the efficiency of their actions and register within the PAGRIS system. We ship an automated notification each month that they need to submit knowledge. If we see that an individual, to illustrate, is registered, however for some cause didn’t present knowledge, it’s a specialist who calls, checks if every thing is OK, reminds them by telephone.
We additionally perform housekeeping controls comparable to checking Reserving’s techniques occasionally in order that we do not see rooms accessible on Reserving, particularly earlier than bigger occasions, and so they say they don’t seem to be. We independently verify such issues. We will not by some means management them any extra, go, knock, verify if there are kids or adults sleeping, as a result of these are private knowledge”, stated A. Lukaševičiūtė on the assembly.
The largest drawback is for personal people offering lodging companies, as platforms comparable to Airbnb are unable to acquire knowledge on the variety of folks staying in a single day within the metropolis.
“Personal people, alternatively, are semi-regulated. They register in that PAGRIS system in the identical method. The principle management drawback is Airbnb or people renting out their lodging for the evening, as a result of often that tax shouldn’t be collected, and so they make up a big a part of that complete market,” she defined.
On the assembly, A. Lukaševičiūtė observed that the issue lies within the Tourism Legislation, which doesn’t obligate people in any method. She drew consideration to the modification of the regulation submitted to the European Fee in 2022 on the management of individuals offering lodging companies and talked about that just a few weeks in the past the European Fee adopted a call on the approval of the regulation, which might permit states that meet the necessities of the regulation to gather knowledge from lodging platforms.
“Once more, the legalization of that problem remains to be a very long time coming. Now the switch of the regulation is a part of the competence of Financial system and Innovation, and we don’t but understand how the switch of the regulation and the corresponding modifications to the legislation shall be carried out.
But when Lithuania goes forward with the adoption of this regulation, and if Lithuania transposes these provisions of the regulation and contains related modifications within the legislation, it could be a chance to demand knowledge from Reserving, Airbnb, and different related platforms,” she stated. .
She argued that these modifications would permit stricter management of particular person entrepreneurs if the info have been routinely obtained and thus the required payment was collected.
In keeping with the rapporteur, management can solely be carried out by counting on reviews, which can point out teams of people who find themselves topic to advantages, however actual checks can’t be carried out, as this might violate private knowledge.
He proposes to extend the pillow tax in Kaunas
The Kaunas council assembly to be held within the second week of June will determine on the rise of the pillow tax. In Kaunas, this tax was launched in 2016, and from 2019 it quantities to 1 euro. On the committee assembly, E. Lukaševičiūtė indicated that massive cities and resorts observe the developments and enhance the payment to 2 euros. That is additionally the intention in Kaunas, in order that from January 1, 2025, the payment will enhance to 2 euros per particular person.
“Earlier than the pandemic, the variety of our vacationers staying at the very least one evening in Kaunas was 522 thousand. through the pandemic, that quantity dropped very considerably, and in 2023 we had 467 thousand. Now, for those who examine the primary three months of this 12 months and final 12 months, a barely growing development is seen.
The tax is paid by vacationers staying within the metropolis of Kaunas. It is a tax instantly borne by the vacationer. It isn’t paid by kids, the disabled, there are advantages. And you do not pay for a long-term keep, that’s, for those who reside longer than 3 weeks in a single place”, stated A. Lukaševičiūtė.
Union of Lithuanian Peasants and Greens The elder of the faction Audronė Jankuvienė requested through the assembly how a lot of the pillow tax was not collected final 12 months. The reporter indicated that solely the collected tax is calculated and final 12 months over 467 thousand was collected. euros. In keeping with her, statistics on the tax that might have been collected should not saved.
“It is unusual to me that there are locations the place there’s a tax and it’s potential to not pay it. It is very unusual, and there’s no management,” A. Jankuvienė noticed.
Entrepreneurs see loopholes within the system
As Ramūnas Stankevičius, an entrepreneur who gives lodging companies in Kaunas by way of Airbnb and different platforms, commented to DELFI earlier, he sees knowledge safety challenges, as the info shall be accessible to a wider vary of establishments and people.
“In our opinion, such private knowledge can solely be offered to legislation enforcement authorities, and if throughout this era it is necessary for the state to know who’s touring round Lithuania, then the State Safety or one other legislation enforcement establishment ought to be appointed because the administrator of the system, and the general public establishment “Journey in Lithuania” and the Financial system and the Ministry of Innovation ought to be happy with statistical knowledge”, commented R. Stankevičius to DELFI.
Agnė Vaitkuvienė, president of the Lithuanian Rural Tourism Affiliation, observed that landlords positioned in areas who shouldn’t have entry to the Web or who’re older could face issues with registration. She additionally informed DELFI journalists that there shall be issues with the variety of friends coming to the festivities, which can be a number of dozen.
“Think about the marriage friends. Subsequently, we’ll ask everybody to go to the door with passports and never flowers and present them. Till now, it was potential to fill out paper registration kinds within the rooms. Nonetheless, think about if each 50 folks will put their kinds into an digital system? There are extra jobs, particularly when these are often household companies the place a number of folks work”, A. Vaitkuvienė commented to DELFI.
A part of entrepreneurs keep away from the legislation?
Kaunas council member Rosvydas Marcinkevičius commented that particular person landlords could not present correct knowledge or permit visiting vacationers to pay the pillow payment at their money desk.
Reserving also needs to have the performance to pay that pillow payment to the particular person themselves. We’ve an actual drawback with these leases which are short-term, personal, that do not function as resorts—residences, residences, and every kind of different issues. On this place, the one method for that tax to be collected is thru these techniques.
The expertise is that final month we have been on trip in 7 locations – there have been each resorts and the personal sector. If there was a “Reserving” system, it could instantly calculate the pillow tax of that metropolis. So how would we handle to make sure in that personal sector that arrivals are declared and that tax is collected?” requested R. Marcinkevičius, consultant of “Vieninga Kaunas”.
Speaker E. Lukaševičiūtė replied that that is precisely the purpose, that the tax can be collected routinely by way of the related rental techniques and thus there can be no loopholes for personal people to manage the tax themselves.
“There’s a specific amount of pure individuals engaged in rental actions, they’ve particular person actions. We observe them, we verify whether or not they have a sound enterprise certificates, in the event that they do, we name them to ask if they’ve actually been arrested, however that verification management mechanism is bodily,” she stated on the assembly.
R. Marcinkevičius proposed that the inspection might happen on the precept of the tax inspectorate, when submitted reviews and declarations are checked. In keeping with him, if there is no such thing as a declaration, however it was identified that financial and industrial actions have been carried out, then the duty to offer these knowledge ought to be utilized. In keeping with R. Marcinkevičius, who raised the problem, the presently utilized process is unfair to resort entrepreneurs, as a result of they fulfill this obligation and acquire the obligatory pillow tax.
E. Lukaševičiūtė identified that in response to the legislation, everybody has the duty to gather tax, however not everybody follows the legal guidelines and violates them.
“If that regulation and its amendments have been to come back into pressure, Airbnb, for instance, would routinely present the municipality (that’s, the tax administrator) with how many individuals are staying by which lodging, and what tax should be paid. Then that management would happen”, the presenter concluded the presentation.
2024-06-08 16:47:44