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In an interview with state broadcaster IRIB, Ali-Parsa said that the targeted rial “billionaires” “in fact... have no tax records at NTA”.
The tax chief added that the NTA was presently going after the most prominent evaders, including those who earn over IRR200bn (€1.6mn at the free market rate) per annum. Of such individuals already listed as under investigation by NTA, more than 2,000 have never filed a tax return, he noted.
Ali-Parsa also discussed how Tehran province has the most tax evaders in the country. Some 35% of all tax evasion was from people in the province, he said. However, when it came to evaders in the IRR200bn earnings bracket, the proportion increased to 50%.
Iranian tax authorities officially​ c​ ollected unpaid back taxes of some IRR184tn (€1.47bn at the free market rate) in the 2018/2019 Persian calendar year which ended in mid-March this year.
Years of lax regulation and corrupt financial practices have made tax collection and accounting a hugely problematic task in Iran. State organisations, paramilitary organisations and privatised companies are often the most significant offenders when it comes to the non-payment of due tax.
6.1.2​ Budget dynamics - funding, privatisation
Iran asks Russia for additional $2bn loan for power, rail and subway carriage projects
Iran aims to privatise 600 companies in current Persian year
Iran has asked Russia to provide an additional $2bn loan for projects including the construction of thermal power plants, hydroelectric power plants, railroads and subway carriages, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak was quoted as saying by media outlets in Russia on November 23.
“They’re asking for about $2 billion... They say they were promised $5 billion in 2015... We had loans allocated to them, they ask us to bring the total amount up to $5 billion,” Novak said, without elaborating.
Iranian Energy Minister Reza Aradakanian would be content with an initial $2bn advance, according to Kommersant.
The Iranian parliament has previously given its asset to the government to take a loan from Russia in the amount of $5bn. Russia agreed to a plan to provide a $5bn loan to Iran for joint infrastructure projects in October 2015, when Novak travelled to Tehran.
The head of the Iranian Privatisation Organisation (IPO) has announced that some 600 companies are to be fully or partially sold to private buyers in the 2019/2020 Persian calendar year (started March 21), IBENA reported on April 28.
The Rouhani administration is under growing pressure to allow more assets on to the market at a faster rate so that capital can move from the roiled currency markets and back into the local economy. With the Iranian rial (IRR) severely weakened by the US sanctions assault on Iran’s economy and Washington to launch its attempt at fully shutting down Iran’s oil exports on May 2, the government is under heightened pressure to increase efforts to deliver liquidity.
25​ IRAN Country Report April 2020 www.intellinews.com