Saeima’s Budget and Finance Commission has expressed unanimous conceptual support for amendments to the Law on Taxes and Duties. These amendments provide for the introduction of electronic working time tracking system in construction, Saeima’s press-service reported.
Finance Minister Dana Reizniece-Ozola told members of the Saeima that a solution for electronic working time tracking was achieved thanks to cooperation between Economy Ministry and Finance Ministry with representatives of construction organizations.
Considering the achieved agreement, it is planned to apply electronic working time tracking on any construction work, as well as public procurements worth one million euros or more. The minister, asking amendments to be approved quickly, emphasized that they were meant to replace the requirement for the main construction contractor to take responsibility for subcontractor workers.
“Construction industry is the first for which the law will establish a requirement for mandatory electronic registration of all workers. We plan to introduce this requirement for other industries that have a high level of grey economy,” says Reizniece-Ozola.
The parliament notes that introduction of an electronic working time tracking system will provide electronic registration, compilation and storage of information about all construction workers. This information will be accessible for the tax administration, as well as employment and construction monitoring authorities, as stated in the legislative draft’s annotation.
Amendments provide that electronic working time tracking and its control is to be secured by the main construction work contractor. It will be necessary to register individuals that remain within the restricted construction territory but are not employed. This applies to suppliers of construction materials and representatives of clients. Also working time system will have to be kept updated and controlled by the subcontractor.
Businesses will be able to register workers using IT solutions that provide a Fully Verified identification of workers and tracking of working time. This can include complex access and working time tracking systems with cards, chips, biometric recognition systems or mobile solutions.
Saeima press service also reports that the introduction of an electronic system received support from construction representatives, ministries, State Revenue Service and State Labor Inspectorate at the June 20 meeting. It is said this system will help reduce labor fraud and envelope wages, as well as help control construction companies’ employment and tax payment activities.
Saeima’s Legal Affairs Office turned attention to multiple flaws in the legislative draft, including the lack of punishments for non-compliance with requirements.
The Budget and Finance Committee urges adding the review of the legislative draft to the agenda of the June 22 meeting. (BNN/Business World Magazine)