Businesses and trade unions: Uniform penalties to be imposed for non-payment of taxes and social security contributions

Employers and trade unions demanded the criminalisation of the concealment of social security contributions by amending the Penal Code, as well as the criminalisation of tax evasion. The latter also includes an alignment of the interest rates on delayed payment of social insurance contributions, as is the case with levies. The social partners agreed that these concepts should be referred to the Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, thus avoiding the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation (NCTC), it became clear after the discussion held at the Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA) yesterday.

This is the second round of talks on the reforms in the pension system and on the improvement of the social dialogue. According to BIA's Chairman, Bozhidar Danev, the mechanism of the Tripartite Council proved ineffective. Moreover, businesses and trade unions also agreed on the proposal for social security contributions to be covered by the retirees employed as freelancers or by those partnering with companies. Currently, pursuant to the Social Security Code (SSC), employed pensioners are not obliged to pay social insurance contributions like officials employed under regular labour contracts. The social partners demanded that the assessment of the contribution rates for pensioners of different ages be based on the same scale in order to avoid discrimination of the various labour categories and of those who retire at different times. Besides, the regular and consistent indexation of wages by age, regardless of their amount, is one of the basic stipulations. Employers and trade unions also demanded that talks be held with the Ministries of Interior, Defence and the Ministry of Justice, whose employees retire early, in order to determine which employees really work under severe and dangerous conditions.

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