Belarus significantly extends privileges to Great Stone Park residents
BelarusFeed
25 May 2017, 13:35
New privileges for the potential residents of the Great Stone industrial park have been set by Decree N0 166, TUT.BY reports on 25 May. Experts describe it as one of the best business environments in the world.
They pay attention, first of all, to the expansion of the list of business activities that allow residency in the park, as well as new tax and customs privileges.
The most important innovations in tax and customs preferences are the following three:
- goods produced by park’s residents in the free customs zone will be exempt from “import” VAT;
- residents of the park will be exempt from income tax for 10 years from the moment they start getting profit, and not from the date of the registration as the park’s resident like it was before;
- Great Stone residents will be exempt from real estate tax and land tax in full for 50 years instead of the first 10 years.
All the already existing tax and customs preferences remain in force, lawyers have noted.
Another important change introduced by Decree No 166 is the so-called Grandfather clause, or grandfather policy. The provision that protects investors of the Great Stone from new, more restrictive legislative changes.
In addition, the barried to enter the park has been lowered. If earlier the cost of the investment project had to be at least $5 million, now the decree has lowered this figure by 10 times – to $500,000 provided the investment lasts for 3 years. “This opens doors for mid-sized business,” lawyers said.
“With the new decree, the legal environment of the Great Stone has become one of the best for conducting business not only in the post-Soviet states, but also in the world,” lawyers told TUT.BY.
“During the preparation of the decree, best legislation practices from Singapore, China, Kazakhstan, and the EU were taken into account”.
Decree N0 166 enters into force on 26 May. It wook over a year to prepare the draft of the document aimed at improving the investment attractiveness of the Great Stone. The industrial park was established in 2012, and it has 13 residents at present. Four of them joined the park about a week ago.
25 May 2017, 13:35
Photo: TUT.BY
They pay attention, first of all, to the expansion of the list of business activities that allow residency in the park, as well as new tax and customs privileges.
The most important innovations in tax and customs preferences are the following three:
- goods produced by park’s residents in the free customs zone will be exempt from “import” VAT;
- residents of the park will be exempt from income tax for 10 years from the moment they start getting profit, and not from the date of the registration as the park’s resident like it was before;
- Great Stone residents will be exempt from real estate tax and land tax in full for 50 years instead of the first 10 years.
All the already existing tax and customs preferences remain in force, lawyers have noted.
Another important change introduced by Decree No 166 is the so-called Grandfather clause, or grandfather policy. The provision that protects investors of the Great Stone from new, more restrictive legislative changes.
In addition, the barried to enter the park has been lowered. If earlier the cost of the investment project had to be at least $5 million, now the decree has lowered this figure by 10 times – to $500,000 provided the investment lasts for 3 years. “This opens doors for mid-sized business,” lawyers said.
“With the new decree, the legal environment of the Great Stone has become one of the best for conducting business not only in the post-Soviet states, but also in the world,” lawyers told TUT.BY.
“During the preparation of the decree, best legislation practices from Singapore, China, Kazakhstan, and the EU were taken into account”.
Decree N0 166 enters into force on 26 May. It wook over a year to prepare the draft of the document aimed at improving the investment attractiveness of the Great Stone. The industrial park was established in 2012, and it has 13 residents at present. Four of them joined the park about a week ago.
