"Currently, there are more than 1.4 million taxpayers in Azerbaijan. This means that one out of every eight people in our country is an entrepreneur."
This was stated by MP Tahir Mirkishili, Chairman of the Committee on Economic Policy, Industry, and Entrepreneurship of the Milli Majlis, in his speech at the committee meeting of the Milli Majlis.
Fakt Yoxla examined whether MP Tahir Mirkishili’s claim was true.
According to the statement of the State Tax Service (STS), there are 1,430,739 taxpayers registered in the republic as of April 1, 2023. 87.3 percent of them are individuals and 12.7 percent are legal entities and other organizations.
However, the issue of special importance here is the concept of an active taxpayer. An active taxpayer is a taxpayer whose Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) is active, that is, not frozen. In addition to the number of total taxpayers, STS also discloses the number of active taxpayers every month. According to that statement, as of April 1, 2023, the number of active taxpayers in the country is equal to 724,400. That is, although the number of TIN accounts is 1 million 430 thousand 739, currently 706 thousand 339 of them (49.4%) are not active.
In this regard, Article 16.3 of the Tax Code states that when a taxpayer ceases entrepreneurial activity..., he/she must submit a certificate to the tax authority. From this point of view, inactive taxpayers consist of persons who have informed STS about their suspension of business activity.
On the other hand, it should be taken into account that not all active taxpayers receive income, they are considered active taxpayers simply because they have a TIN account. Unfortunately, STS does not publicly disclose the number of active taxpayers. That is, some of the 724 thousand 400 persons with an active TIN do not receive income too; however, they are considered active taxpayers simply because they have not closed their TIN. In this regard, it can be assumed that the number of active taxpayers who receive income is lower.
Thus, it becomes clear that although there are 1 million 430 thousand taxpayers in the country, only 730 thousand of them have an active TIN.
Fakt Yoxla concludes that MP Tahir Mirkishili's claim is a Manipulation of Facts.
