Additional opportunities have been created for business development in small towns of Belarus and in rural areas

March 2, Minsk /BELTA/. Additional opportunities have been created in Belarus for business development in small towns and rural areas. On March 1, the President of Belarus issued Decree No. 4, which introduces amendments and additions to Decrees No. 9 of December 20, 2007, and No. 1 of January 28, 2008, regulating the application of special regimes for entrepreneurial activities in the regions, the press service of the head of state informed BELTA. The document is aimed at eliminating problems that hinder the creation of new production facilities in small towns and rural areas, and at increasing the investment attractiveness of the economic potential of the regions. In order to create equal operating conditions for entities actually located in the same territory, the application of a special procedure for entrepreneurial activities is permitted for organizations and individual entrepreneurs located (residing) in any rural area, when carrying out such activities within its territory. In addition, the procedure established by Presidential Decree No. 9 of December 20, 2007, is permitted for the simultaneous carrying out of production and trade and intermediary activities in rural areas, provided that organizations and individual entrepreneurs maintain separate accounting of revenue by type of activity. To remove administrative barriers, existing benefits for customs duties and value added tax are extended to all goods classified by law as technological equipment. This allows for the automatic granting of this benefit while maintaining its investment focus, eliminating the need to obtain conclusions from regional executive committees confirming that imported goods are technological equipment. In order to create equal conditions for entrepreneurial activities for organizations with foreign investments applying Presidential Decree No. 1 of January 28, 2008, the administrative procedure for confirming the correctness of the formation of the charter capital has been excluded, and the need to reimburse tax benefits in case of withdrawal from the participants of organizations has been canceled. At the same time, newly established Belarusian organizations are granted the right to receive benefits for the tax-free and duty-free import of goods as contributions to charter capital, as is currently provided for foreign investors. To provide additional guarantees for the payback of projects implemented by organizations applying Decree No. 1 of January 28, 2008, the range of the profit tax benefit has been extended from 5 to 7 years. Commercial organizations applying this decree are granted the right to continue applying it in case of merging with another legal entity. To ensure the stability of the legal regime established for potential investors by Decree No. 1 of January 28, 2008, the need to fully reimburse tax benefits received in case of liquidation or reorganization of a commercial organization during the period of tax benefits or within 3 years after its expiration is excluded. As explained by the press service, in general, Decree No. 4 will contribute to the liberalization of economic activity in Belarus.-0-