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Employers fear that on January 4, when their overdue obligations expire, they will not be able to pay them because the billing due to the pandemic fell, but not business costs, so they will be able to achieve savings by reducing wages and laying off employees, he said the honorary president of the Serbian Employers’ Union Nebojsa. Atanackovic.
He told Beta that the situation in 2021 will be incomparably more difficult than this year because uncertainty has increased and stories about the vaccine are on a “long stick” because large numbers are needed.
“Since the dismissal of employees was conditioned by the taking of state aid, at the beginning of next year we should expect a ‘layoff’ on the number of employees, but also a reduction in wages,” said Atanackovic.
In the first “package” of aid, in addition to the payment of the minimum wage for employees of small and medium-sized enterprises, and partly of large ones, the state first postponed taxes and contributions on wages and income tax for three months, it prohibited the dismissal of more than ten percent of employees. it is also a moratorium on loan repayment.
The second aid package included the payment of 60 percent of the minimum for two months and the deferral of the payroll tax for one month, and the obligations will begin on January 4, 2021 and must be paid in 24 installments.
The president of the Serbian National Association of Freight Forwarding Companies and Agents, Slavoljub Jevtic, said the economy asked the state to cancel part of the deferred debts.
“January and February are the worst months for business, and deferred debt will be a great burden for companies, because there are also those whose billing has dropped by 35 to 40 percent,” Jevtic said.
He added that most companies are also burdened with loans that were used to buy equipment, without financial actions.
“Most of the companies are in the ‘razor’, although state aid saved many companies from bankruptcy, but now the layoffs of employees has started,” Jevtic said.
The owner of the Metalika company, Zoran Wolf, said that by January 4 many financial obligations would accumulate.
“There are 52 workers in the company and so far, except for one who found better conditions, we have not fired anyone. We have started to calculate the obligations that await us at the beginning of next year, and the worst is the loans,” said Wolf, adding that “we must not panic and fight.”
The coordinator of the Business Support Network, Dragoljub Rajić, said the economy is just beginning to adapt to business without a state “injection”.
“Small companies in the service sector will probably wait to make some money during the New Year holidays, and after that the closing will begin and the real situation will be seen in January and February,” Rajić said.
He pointed out that “despite the fall in income, liabilities with the State are not reduced, so in this situation no illogical liabilities are even modified”, which is the income tax paid in advance, in advance according to the previous year, while during the first semester of the following year they do not present financial statements.
Rajic said that the money from the advance, if it turns out that the business was conducted for non-profit, is not returned, but is redirected to the settlement of other taxes.
“Until 2012, earnings that employers invested in equipment were tax-free, so equipment modernized faster and productivity increased,” said Rajić. He noted that the economy burdened by high taxes and other expenses is “vulnerable” even when its income falls by a small percentage, and not by 10-15 or more like now.
“Even for large companies, except perhaps those in the food sector, it is not easy, Kragujevac’s ‘Fiat’ sends employees on vacation every hour,” Rajić said.
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