Finance minister pushes for e-bill applications

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek has encouraged taxpayers to apply for electronic billing options by Sep. 1 as part of a move to modernize the methods for paying taxes.

The e-billing application, with which taxpayers will use electronic bills and electronic notebooks to record their transactions, will come into operation on Jan. 1, 2014.

“Not delaying the enactment of the application, which has been quite late compared to its global examples, is very important for both our country and our companies,” Şimşek told Anadolu Agency.

Northern European countries have been using this system since the 1980s and the usage rate has approached 99 percent in those countries, Şimşek said. The minister said the e-bills would reduce the tax compliance costs considerably and ease the management of enterprises, providing a number of facilities for institutionalization.