During its meeting yesterday, the House Finance Committee expressed concerns regarding implementation of the new regulations concerning Value Added Tax in line with directives from the European Union. The concerns were also shared by representatives of the Cyprus Chartered Accountants association who proposed that Cyprus asks for an extension of six months for full implementation of the new regulations, which are based on the British system and are supposed to be fully implemented by the end of this year. Already Cyprus has made a commitment to the EU to bring VAT up to 15% by 2003 in line with its accession course.

The tax management department of the Ministry of Finance reported that the VAT services are already preparing documentation providing information on the new regulations and procedures and that the department will be ready this autumn to handle implementation of the new procedures.