Treasury half empty? Lukashenka orders to tax interest rates on short-term deposits

Belarusian president Alyaksandr Lukashenka signed ordinance No. 7 ‘On depositing money’ on Wednesday. The ordinance provides for imposing an income tax upon the interest rates on short-term deposits starting from April 2016.

From November 12 on, time and conditional deposit accounts will be divided into irrevocable and revocable deposits. The terms for early withdrawal of funds will be the main distinctive feature of these two types of deposits, the National Bank said. The ordinance covers only newly-signed deposit agreements.

The income tax will be imposed upon the interest rates gained from the actual placement of funds in current (settlement) bank accounts and deposits for the period of no more than one year (in Belarusian rubles) and no more than two years (in foreign currency), state-run news agency BelTA reports.

The income tax will be imposed only on the interest rates and not the whole sum of the deposit, the document states. If the income tax is to be paid, the bank will calculate the sum of the tax and transfer it to the state budget.

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Belsat.eu, following BelTA