COMMENTARY: What innovations are expected in the economic sphere in 2025

Vadim Ipatov Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Belarus In 2025, a number of innovations will come into force in the economic sphere. They affect the areas of lending, insurance, licensing, and taxation. Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives Vadim Ipatov spoke about the laws and their provisions that will come into force in December 2024 and January 2025.
"The Law "On Amending the Law "On Credit Histories" will come into force on January 5, 2025. Its provisions will allow creditors to more accurately assess the debt burden and creditworthiness of individuals, improve the quality of decisions made on issuing loans, and prohibit an individual from providing users of his credit history with his credit report in connection with the commission (suspicion of commission) of fraudulent actions against him," said Vadim Ipatov. The law

"On Insurance Activities" comes into force on January 1, 2025. it comprehensively defines the principles of organizing insurance activities, the rights and obligations of insurance market participants, the powers of state regulation of relations in this area, the specifics of state registration, reorganization and liquidation of insurance organizations, the conditions for the activities of insurance organizations, insurance brokers and insurance agents, and the specifics of ensuring the financial stability of insurance organizations. From the same date, certain provisions of the law "On Amendments to Laws on Accounting and Reporting" come into force. "Thus, organizations with state participation on the list approved by the government resolution are required to prepare financial statements in accordance with international financial reporting standards. And for organizations in the banking sector, including the Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus, international financial reporting standards will be applied as the only standards when preparing such statements," the vice-speaker noted. "In addition, certain provisions of the law "On Amendments to Laws on Taxation Issues" will come into force. In particular, from January 1, notaries will be registered by the tax authority based on information from the Ministry of Justice. In order to seize income received in large amounts, the profit tax rate is increased from legal entities and individuals to 25% for profits exceeding Br25 million per year, and an income tax rate of 25% is set for a portion of individuals' income exceeding Br220 thousand per calendar year. In order to encourage individual entrepreneurs to switch to other forms of doing business, an income tax rate of 30% is set for gross revenues exceeding Br500 thousand.per year, with subsequent termination of activity as an individual entrepreneur from the following year."




The law "On Amending Laws" is expected to come into force on January 1, 2025. This is part of the budget package of bills for 2025 and provides for adjustments to tax legislation. Thus, it provides for an increase in excise rates on tobacco products and alcoholic beverages, indexation of tax rates set in absolute values, based on the forecast for growth in consumer prices. The restriction on a one-time property deduction for large families building or purchasing a residential building or apartment is removed. The list of young specialists, young workers (employees) who have received higher, scientifically oriented secondary specialized or vocational education and have the right to receive a standard tax deduction is expanded.

"In addition, the revenue criterion for applying the simplified taxation system has been increased to Br3.5 million. It is also envisaged to apply a zero rate of value added tax on services for international road freight transport in the part of the route that begins and ends in the Republic of Belarus. The value added tax rate is reduced from 20% to 10% for processed turkey MEAT," Vadim Ipatov emphasized.

On December 11, one of the significant innovations of the law "On Amendments to Laws on State Registration of Real Estate, Rights to It and Transactions with It" came into force. We are talking about extending until January 1, 2028 the so-called land amnesty, which expires in September 2025, that is, the possibility of exercising the right to legalize the facts of unauthorized occupation of land plots, their improper use and the facts of providing land plots in violation of the established procedure.

On December 25, 2024, the provisions of the law "On Amending Laws on Housing Stock Management and Operation" come into force. The law is generally aimed at improving the system of managing common property of joint home ownership, increasing the efficiency of the activities of owners' organizations, ensuring the operational reliability and safety of residential buildings, their proper maintenance, expanding the powers of local authorities and is designed to eliminate gaps in legal regulation in this area.

"In particular, it provides for the right of city (cities of regional subordination), district executive committees, local district administrations in MINSK to determine, by their decisions without conducting procurement procedures, on a contractual basis, providers of housing and communal services, which will improve the quality and efficiency of these services. In addition, from January 6, 2025, the owners' organization will have the right to service the common property of joint home ownership on its own only if it has a certificate of conformity," Vadim Ipatov clarified.

The law "On Amending the Law "On Limiting Exclusive Rights to Intellectual Property" comes into force from the new year. It extends the special measures to legalize "parallel import" of certain goods in response to political and economic sanctions against our country for another two years - until December 31, 2026.

The main provisions of the law "On Amending the Law "On Licensing" also come into force from January 1. It was adopted in development of the law "On Insurance Activities" and provides for supplementing the law with rules concerning imputed insurance. It provides for clarification of the wording of the insurance rules, as well as the specifics of fulfilling obligations in the event of termination of the license.

In addition, from the first day of the new year, the law "On the Budget of the State Off-Budget Fund for Social Protection of the Population of the Republic of Belarus for 2025" comes into force, aimed at ensuring the stability of the country's pension system and its development in modern conditions. "Thus, compared to the current year, the structure of income and expenditure of the social security fund budget has remained virtually unchanged: the main source of income for the fund's budget remains contributions to state social insurance; in the structure of the fund's budget revenue, they have the largest share - about 92%," Vadim Ipatov added. "At the same time, as in previous years, about 80% of the fund's budget will be directed to pension provision. In 2025, it is planned to ensure the fulfillment of the indicator of the ratio of the average old-age pension to the average salary in the republic. Thus, through the consistent use of legislative mechanisms, the implementation of the most important social rights of citizens is guaranteed. The fund's budget for 2025 has a surplus due to professional pension insurance funds."

BELTA.