Tax refunds to be paid out early, Croatian finance minister says

ZAGREB, May 12 (Hina) – Finance Minister Zdravko Maric said on Tuesday that despite the unfavourable situation with the budget, citizens would be paid out tax returns in June and that he hoped the payment of tax returns in June instead of August would be the normal practice from now on.

“Citizens can expect their tax returns in June already. That is something we spoke about when the first round of measures (designed to alleviate the impact of the coronavirus crisis on the business sector) was introduced. We announced that as far as the Tax Administration and central treasury are concerned, we will doing everything we can to speed up procedures,” Maric told reporters in Parliament House.

He rejected claims that this change is related to the election which will most likely be held in July, saying that this was decided much before any mention of the election was made.

Asked about returning Sunday trading which employers are calling for, Maric said that the third round of lifting lockdown measures, which entered into force yesterday, has had a positive effect on the value of fiscal receipts. “The only thing is that we are not at last year’s level. Nevertheless, the decrease is less than it would be had we not relaxed the restrictions,” he said.

The minister said that one day of trading was significant for stores but that Sunday shopping would be transferred to other days. We will see what the impact will be on hospitality and tourism and how things will unfold with regard to fiscal receipts, he said.

“Naturally, there is more shopping on weekends, be that Friday or Saturday, while the highest amount of fiscal receipts is always generated ahead of Christmas Eve or Good Friday so one should not generalise and attach that much importance to one specific day in the week,” he added without specifying whether returning Sunday trading, which was banned for epidemiological reasons by the National Civil Protection Authority, is being considered.