TAX PAYMENTS OF AGRICULTURAL SECTOR IN LATVIA

Enterprises of various legal forms operate in the agricultural sector of Latvia; the imposition of taxes varies for these enterprises, and consequently, their tax burden is different. An essential increase of the tax burden particularly for small agricultural enterprises was observed for the period of 2010-2012 due to the legislative amendments, thus, disregarding the equity principle of taxation system. The research is aimed at the study of taxes paid into the state budget by agricultural enterprises, the dynamics of paid taxes, and tax burden for different groups of taxpayers. Tasks to achieve the set aim: to study the dynamics of agricultural sector enterprises and different legal forms; to analyse the tendencies in tax payments made by agricultural enterprises; and to compare the income tax differences for different taxpayers. The research results allowed concluding that reimbursements of taxes and different tax reliefs in the agricultural sector considerably exceed tax payments into the budget. Tax differences for agricultural enterprises of different forms have declined since 2013; thus, aligning both the tax rates and application of tax reliefs. However, the planned amendments in relation to the imposition of the income tax on subsidies from 2017 will significantly increase the tax burden of agricultural enterprises. A timely decision on compensating tax allowances for all active farmers shall be adopted to reduce the negative impact of tax increase on agricultural enterprises.