Serbian government announces crackdown on unregistered assets

The Serbian government announced that it will be enforcing a law passed in 2003, which requires the registration and taxing of property and assets worth more than EUR 350,000, Serbian daily Politika wrote, June 26.

“This summer the state will engage in cross-checking income and assets,” Finance Minister Mladjan Dinkic, told Politika. “All those with property, which exceeds the EUR 350,000 mark should register it within the next 10 days. Further deadlines will not be announced.”

Those who fail to comply to the regulation will have to pay a penalty of up to three per cent of the unregistered property’s value.

So far, only 30 individuals have been through the process where it was found that the value of their property was greater than their income.

Former director of the tax administration, Djerdj Pap, stated that the cross-checking controls will only become effective when political will follows the law’s enforcement.

“The law entered legislation nine years ago,” Pap told Politika. “It has been in-force for the last seven years, and yet no one has ever heard of an individual serving a prison sentence, or being stripped of illegally acquired assets.”

The enforcement of the law is likely to finally lead some way to greater transparency, in a country which has seen a fast rise to extreme wealth by a small part of the population.