Tax Evaders To Pay DZD 100.00.00 Fine, Or Face Prison Sentence

Algerian government proposed new financial penalties against tax evaders or people who refuse to pay taxes, fees and annual permits for property up to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of more than DZD 100.00.00.

According to the Local Taxation Bill, which is under consideration at the table of the Minister of the Interior and local communities, the financial sanctions “are automatically imposed on the taxpayer who did not provide the annual permit to his/her property, and the same for people who are late in payment, as the tax doubled by 20% according to each case, and the amount that is imposed is doubled by 10% if the delay period does not exceed one month, and to 20% if the period exceeded more than 30 days”.

Article 205 of the draft law stipulates that, regardless of the penalties for each fee, delays in payment of taxes and fees shall result in the application of a financial penalty of more than 10% of the amount that is imposed by force of law. If the payment is delayed within thirty days, the penalty shall be increased to 25%.

As stated in Article 206, every person who evades or attempts to use fraudulent methods to evade taxes and fees shall be punished with a fine of DZD 50.000 to 100.000 DZD, in addition to a penalty of one to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of 50.000 to 100.000 DZD, if the amount evaded by the person exceeds DZD 100.00.00.

According to the text of the draft law, any person who misbehaves with qualified agents to inspect the violations of the tax legislation while carrying out their duties shall be punished by the law with a fine, which shall be determined at the meeting of the appeals committee which is charged with following up on the draft law’s text.

Article 207 states that any person who acts in any manner and evades qualified agents to inspect violations and tax legislation shall be liable to a fine of more than DZD 300.000.

This fine shall be determined by the persons appointed for surveillance, and the article reads: “After taking the binding opinion of the appeals committee, a financial fine is imposed on that person, and must be independent of the other penalties that are contained in the text.”

The funds that are collected by the Committee that is charged with the collection of taxes and the follow-up of penalties shall be returned in accordance with Article 208 which provided for the benefit of the Community Budget Fund.