DUSHANBE, January 24, 2013, Asia-Plus  -- Barqi Tojik (state-owned utility responsible for generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity in Tajikistan) remains Tajikistan’s biggest tax debtor, Nusratullo Davlatov, Chairman of the Tax Committee under the Government of Tajikistan, announced at a news conference in Dushanbe on January 23.

As of January 1, 2013, Barqi Tojik’s tax debts exceeded 256 million somoni (equivalent to more than 77.5 million USD), Davlatov noted.

According to him, among the big tax debtors are also the Ministry of Land Reclamation and Water Resources (LRWR) – 56 million somoni, Open Joint-Stock Company (OJSC) Sangtudinskaya GES-1 – 33 million somoni, OJSC Tajik Telecom – 5.5 million somoni, and Khujand-based OJS Lal – more than 4 million somoni.

Tajik chief tax officer also noted that many economic entities in the country have tax debts ranging from one to two million somoni.

Meanwhile, total tax debts reportedly rose 109 million somoni in a year to December 31, 2012, reaching 641 million somoni.

Last year, Tajik tax officers collected 4.881 billion somoni in taxes and other compulsory payments, which was 5 percent more than it was originally planned, Davlatov added.  The tax collection target for 2012 was determined at 4.653 billion somoni.