The Riigikogu passed again without amendments the Act enhancing tax proceedings

On 22 November, the Riigikogu had passed the Act on Amendments to the Land Tax Act and the Taxation Act (297 UA), initiated by the Government. It is intended to amend the rules for electronic delivery of documents in order to enhance tax proceedings. According to the Act, in the future, in the case of legal persons, documents will be deemed to be delivered once five working days have passed since they were uploaded to e-tax board or forwarded to e-mail. At present, for documents to be deemed to be delivered, the legal person must either open the documents in e-tax board or confirm by e-mail that they have received the documents. The Act also restricts the right of natural persons to receive documents on paper. The person will lose this right once they have already received the document electronically. The amendments are scheduled to enter into force on 1 January 2023.

The Government had declared the passing of the Bill a matter of confidence in the Government before the second reading after members of the Riigikogu had submitted 200 motions to amend the Bill by the deadline. President Alar Karis had refused to proclaim the Act on 8 December. He had found that the Act was not in conformity with the Constitution as it had been passed in breach of procedural rules. According to the President, the Constitution does give the Government a possibility to declare legislative drafts it submits a matter of confidence but only under restrictive preconditions which had not been met in this case.

During the renewed deliberation of the Act, representative of the Constitutional Committee Hendrik Johannes Terras and representative of the Finance Committee Marek Reinaas made reports and answered questions by members of the Riigikogu.

During the debate, Andrei Korobeinik from the Estonian Centre Party Group, Martin Helme and Rain Epler from the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group and Helir-Valdor Seeder from Isamaa Parliamentary Group as well as Kalle Grünthal took the floor.

58 members of the Riigikogu voted in favour of passing the Act again without amendments and 31 were against.

The Minister of Health replied to two interpellations

The Minister of Health Riina Sikkut replied to the interpellations concerning alcohol-related deaths (No. 485) and concerning the rise in VAT (No. 280), submitted by members of the Riigikogu. Riina Solman from Isamaa Parliamentary Group took the floor during the debate.

The interpellations concerning national defence (No. 102) and concerning the rise in VAT (No. 271 and No. 303) submitted to the Minister of Defence Hanno Pevkur by members of the Riigikogu were excluded from the agenda. The interpellation concerning the rise in VAT (No. 238) submitted to the Minister of Health Riina Sikkut was also excluded from the agenda.

Kristo Enn Vaga from the Reform Party Parliamentary Group and Tõnis Lukas from Isamaa Parliamentary Group made speeches at the open microphone session.

Verbatim record of the sitting (in Estonian)

Video recording will be available to watch later on the Riigikogu YouTube channel.

Riigikogu Press Service
Maris Meiessaar
+372 631 6353, +372 5558 3993
maris.meiessaar@riigikogu.ee
Questions: press@riigikogu.ee

Link uudisele: The Riigikogu passed again without amendments the Act enhancing tax proceedings

Source: Parliament of Estonia