16:04 - 26.11.2019

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November 26, Fineko/abc.az. The share of e-commerce in total trade does not even reach 1% in Azerbaijan.

ABC.AZ reports that the statement was made by Vugar Bayramov, the head of the Center for Economic & Social Development and expert economist.

"This suggests that more systematic and all-round measures are needed in this sphere," Bayramov said.

According to the expert, Azerbaijan is one of the few countries that attract e-commerce to taxation, and VAT is charged even when receiving an electronic program for the development of a scientific article:

"Even when paying online for hosting a think tank web page, 18% VAT is charged, while in most developed countries electronic payments of this type are free of all taxes. The consequence of this is that in recent years a significant part of customers using e-services have opened bank accounts in Georgia. Another factor that hinders the development of e-commerce is the complete lack of e-infrastructure development. In particular, there are cases when POS terminals do not work and entrepreneurs in the service sector are not interested in e-payments. Trust in banks also hinders the development of e-commerce.

From this angle, we propose to exempt e-commerce in Azerbaijan from indirect tax, i.e. VAT, as in most countries, including the U.S, to improve the conditions and control over the use of POS terminals. Most importantly, it is desirable that the state would insure funds on current accounts, so that the citizen would not hesitate to store funds on a plastic card. The development of e-commerce is possible only as a result of systemic reforms, " the expert believes.