PMCG is involved in the USAID funded project in Kyrgyzstan

PMCG is providing consulting services in tax policy and tax administration to the State Committee on Taxes and Collections (SCTC) of the Kyrgyz Republic.

Start Date: March 2009
End Date: July 2009
Country: Kyrgyzstan
Client: State Committee on Taxes and Collections (SCTC) of the Kyrgyz Republic
Funder: USAID Business Environment Improvement Program (BEI)

Description of the Project:

The goal of the USAID BEI Project is to promote entrepreneurship and economic development by reducing the legal, regulatory, and administrative burden for SMEs by working with governments to streamline legal and regulatory processes and facilitate informed and effective dialogue between the private and public sectors. Constructive, multi-party engagement in the reform process will result in better SME policies, deregulation at the local, national and regional level, proper implementation of laws and regulations and stronger business associations, leading to an improved business environment for SMEs and to more diversified economic growth.

The Government of the Kyrgyz Republic (GoKR) is to improve the business environment by concentrating on tax reforms to increase stability and predictability in tax policy, decrease tax burdens, and simplify and remove bureaucratic barriers in the tax system. USAID BEI in KR is facilitating improvements in tax policy and tax administration (among other areas) that will improve the Kyrgyz Republic’s indicators under the World Bank Doing Business (WBDB) survey.

In accordance with the USAID BEI work plan and with agreement of the KR Government, BEI has contracted PMCG to provide consulting services in tax policy and tax administration. BEI has identified PMCG Founder and Head of the Supervisory board, Mr. Aleksi Aleksishvili as most suited to provide expert consultation on several work products regarding analysis of tax policy and tax administration issues, improvements to tax legislation and other recommendations for improving the WBDB “Paying Taxes” indicator.

Specific work products to be developed in conjunction with BEI and PMCG include:

1. Inventory of all tax administration procedures, NLAs and provisions of the latest KR Tax Code affecting the “Paying Taxes” indicator, including but not limited to tax inspections, risk assessment system implementation, one-stop-shop business registration, and tax contracts;
2. Presentation on international best practice (Western Countries, CIS reformers, and Georgia in particular) in areas related to the WBDB “Paying Taxes” indicator, with specific recommendations on applicability and implementation of duplicate reforms in the Kyrgyz Republic;
3. Recommendations on amendments to the KR Tax Code based on best international practice and improvements indicated by WBDB methodology for the “Paying Taxes” indicator, and for improving sections on application for a tax contract;
4. Action plan with recommendations on tax inspections, risk assessment system implementation, and one-stop-shop business registration at the district level.