Shifts in business as tax evasion declines

The number of single-person enterprises is growing, despite the system of presumptive income calculation and mandatory e-payments and invoicing. However, there are significant shifts in individual sectors, with the closing of hundreds of bars, restaurants and other sectors where there are strong signs of saturation, with tens of thousands of small businesses with the same objective across the country.

Mass openings are being recorded, on the other hand, in sectors linked to modern electronic business: courier, packaging, transportation etc. Thousands of professionals are turning to cover the new needs created in the market. The boom in e-commerce has increased the number of professionals in the field of postal and courier activities by 2,987, while professionals in the packaging industry have also increased by 2,154. The number of professionals in the field of distance trade, or box moving, has also increased significantly.

The set of radical changes in the market, especially after the pandemic, is strongly reflected in the statistics of the tax authorities, and this is expected to continue at an intensive rate in coming months and years.

The landscape of small and medium-sized business activity has changed and thousands of self-employed people are already being forced to adjust.

The minimum presumptive income, the installation of POS everywhere, and the direct connection of cash registers to the tax authorities have deprived the competitive advantage of those who based their profitability on hiding transactions and not paying taxes and social security contributions.

Sole proprietorships that continuously show losses and therefore pay no tax at all can no longer exist, because of the presumed income. Also, the VAT debit declaration has entered the cost list of thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises for good after the interconnection of cash registers, the mandatory use of POS, and the mass shift of consumers toward online payments.

As the months go by, the amounts that will be reflected in VAT returns will become larger, as the shift toward electronic payments has not peaked yet. The opposite is true, as the expansion of POS everywhere is now starting to bear fruit.