Procedures for recovering VAT on imported production machinery are too complex and discouraging for small businesses 

The current regulatory framework does not provide for a mechanism to refund VAT on the import of production machinery for economic operators who are not liable for VAT. This is an impediment to the development of small and micro businesses, according to representatives of the Moldovan business community. 

The issue was discussed in the Working Group on Women’s Economic Empowerment and Gender Equality of the Economic Council to the Prime Minister. 

According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, women entrepreneurs, especially small local producers and women business owners in rural areas, more frequently manage micro enterprises – 79.4%. A large proportion of them are non-VAT paying economic agents. 

Tax and customs policy for 2023 contains a number of measures to stimulate economic development. Not a mechanism to stimulate investment in technology and production equipment. 

In this context, it is necessary to identify a lucrative mechanism on how to apply tax and customs facilities on the import of supplies made on the territory of the country of long-term tangible assets used in the manufacture of products, provision of services and/or execution of works intended for inclusion in the statutory (social) capital and subsequently transposed into the regulation, which would determine how to apply tax facilities for economic agents not liable for VAT.

The Working Group meeting also discussed current small business challenges such as the need for accessible credit instruments for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, especially in times of crisis, and the development of support programmes for micro and small businesses run by women, including in agriculture, enabling the purchase of high-performance production machinery and equipment. The meeting also mentioned the need to create a database of companies that have received financial support from various government and donor programmes in order to avoid double funding of investment projects.

In the same vein, it was mentioned that there is a lack of a law regulating the economic activities of handicrafts and handicrafts, as well as domestic producers, who are mostly women from rural areas and represent an untapped economic potential.  

All the proposals presented at the meeting will be collected by the Economic Council Secretariat and included in an information note which will serve as a guideline for the joint efforts of the Working Group.

The Secretariat of the Prime Minister’s Economic Council is supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, with financial support from the UK Government’s Good Governance Fund and the International Finance Corporation’s Investment Climate Reform project, funded by the Swedish Government’s International Development Agency.

The Secretariat of the Economic Council to the Prime Minister is supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, funded by the UK Government’s Good Governance Fund.