03.04.2022
Debate on bills to amend company laws and collect taxes has been completed in the Chamber of Commerce committee, and its members announced that they have agreed to submit a joint bill to be voted on at the next plenary meeting. This is the harmonization of legislation based on the relevant European directive of 2012.
One proposal was submitted by Ilias Miriantos on behalf of EDEK, Marios Mavridis on behalf of the parliamentary group DISY, and Alek Trifonidis and Michalis Giakoumis on behalf of DIPA. Another proposal was submitted by Kyriakos Hatzigiannis, Onoufrio Koullas and Nikos Sikas on behalf of the DISY parliamentary group and Christiana Erotokritou on behalf of the DIKO parliamentary group.
Mr. Mirianthus said after the meeting that “the golden ratio has been found”, a joint recommendation, and that they will go with a joint proposal for a law so that at the next meeting of the plenum it will be voted unanimously and it can be implemented.
DISY MP Marios Mavridis said in statements that the goal of the proposed law is to reduce compliance costs for small businesses by submitting reports that are not as detailed as fully audited reports.
“This affects a large percentage of small businesses and will help both reduce the costs of these businesses and help them survive,” he said.Mr. Mirianthous said that the debate on the legislative proposals he and his colleagues, Mr. Mavridis and Michalis Jakoumis of DIPA, presented to amend the Companies Law and the Tax Collection Law, which changes the obligation of the smallest businesses to provide fully audited reports and thus present audited reports in accordance with another auditing standard. He added that the specific standard is set at €200,000 in turnover and €500,000 as a balance sheet.
“Thus, those companies that meet these criteria will present their accounts differently, with reduced verification procedures, therefore, in essence, the inconvenience created for very small enterprises, which are primarily family-owned, will be eliminated,” said Mr Mirianthus.
AKEL MP Kostas Kostas expressed the party’s satisfaction with today’s outcome and the fact, he said, that “all parties have agreed and we are going to the plenary session of Parliament with the proposed law.” He said that AKEL has made a positive contribution to the debate and provided opinions and recommendations. “It showed in practice the desire of all of us to try to help very small businesses,” he added.
Ms. Erotokritou said that very small enterprises cannot bear the same obligations as large enterprises with inexhaustible resources, human and non-human.She said that since 2012 there has been a European directive that allows member states to use more simplified and more business-friendly procedures so that businesses are supported and very small businesses receive more support than large ones. Ms. Erotokritou reported that they have identified a gap in the Cypriot legislation on this issue, despite the fact that this is allowed by the relevant European directive.
For this reason, she added, with her law proposal and Mr. Kullas, who she said signed the proposal, “today we concluded discussions on a new legislative provision that opens up new horizons for small, medium and young entrepreneurs.” She said that the administrative costs that businesses up to the same size would have to submit to the tax department would be simplified, and that they expected the costs they would have to pay to audit firms to prepare their annual reports would also be reduced.
“In this way, we not only help small and medium-sized businesses, but also encourage, help and motivate young people to create their own new business, removing the very large financial and administrative burden associated with the preparation of annual audited accounts,” she added.
She explained that, based on international accounting and auditing standards, this process is much simpler and clearer, it takes much less time, so there will be much less bureaucracy associated with the preparation of annual accounts, and, consequently, costs and human resources will be much lower.
Mr. Jakumi, in turn, said after the meeting that he was satisfied with the consensus on this issue, since it covers 42% of companies registered in the Companies Register, even though his side submitted a proposal that provided for companies with a maximum with a turnover of 700,000 euros and an asset value of approximately 1 million euros at the closing date of the balance sheet. However, as part of the consensus, he said, they agreed on lower amounts of €200,000 and €500,000.
He also said that, according to DIPA, the same should happen to the self-employed, that is, a review limit of 70,000 to 150,000 euros should be set, and over 150,000 euros, individual accounts should be closed. This, he added, would be reflected in another bill.
Mr Gyakoumis added that they would like to further increase the amounts provided in their own proposal based on the European directive so that more companies benefit in the future.
Mr. Mirianthus said that the limits they have set are very small compared to the limits in other European countries, but they start with these small amounts and then when they see the possibility of joining larger companies in accordance with these standards, they increase limits.
