Iranian Physicians Protest Installation of Card Payment Terminals to Combat Tax Evasion
Experts from various branches of Iran’s medical community have strongly protested the Tax Administration Organization’s requirement to use bank card payment terminals, calling the measure “contrary to law” and “discriminatory.”
The medical community and related professions have reacted strongly to the mandatory use of bank card payment terminals issued by the Tax Administration Organization as part of efforts to combat tax evasion.
According to the Fars News Agency, the heads of the Medical System Organization in Bushehr and Zahedan, the Iranian Scientific Association of Radiology, the Iranian General Dentists Association, and the Professional Association of Dental Employers in Gilan Province sent a letter to Dr. Mohammad Reza Zafargandi, head of the Medical System Organization, and Ishaq Jahangiri, First Vice President, describing professionals in this field as “among the most responsible” members of society and calling for “elimination of professional discrimination” and removal of this mandate.
The Islamic Consultative Assembly, in efforts to combat tax evasion and as part of an additional clause to provision six of the 2019 budget bill, has required physicians to use point-of-sale terminals (bank card payment devices).
Ali Rastampour, director general of the Regulation and Outsourcing Office of the Tax Administration Organization, on July 28, referring to this provision, gave owners of medical, paramedical, pharmaceutical, and veterinary practices until August 14 to register for the use of point-of-sale terminals.
A few hours after the news was released, Rastampour announced in an interview with the Islamic Republic News Network that those working in medical professions who do not use these card readers would be subject to fines.
He said: “Physicians who equip themselves with this system will have 10 percent of their declared taxes forgiven for two years. In contrast, those who do not use these devices will be subject to a two percent fine on their service income.”
Hadi Khani, director general of Inspection and Tax Evasion Combat at the Tax Administration Organization, also asked the public on the second channel of IRIB to report to the Tax Administration Organization’s news desk if they notice the absence of a card payment device when visiting medical centers.
Physicians and various medical community organizations in their protest letters, some of which have been published by Fars News Agency, have pointed to the distinction between medical and commercial centers, emphasizing that if this measure is applied only to members of this profession, it would be “discriminatory” and suggests that tax evasion among physicians is “widespread.”
Fars reports that according to statistics from the Tax Administration Organization, physicians pay only 150 billion tomans in taxes. However, the Majlis Research Center, in a report published last December, estimated their actual tax amount at approximately 6,700 billion tomans at minimum.
Source: DW
