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Law360 (March 18, 2020, 8:57 PM EDT) -- Lithuania has introduced tax-related relief measures intended to help individuals and businesses in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the country's government administration and tax authority has announced.
The government on Monday said it had extended the deadline for filing corporate income tax returns by two weeks, to March 30. The extension also applies to tax payments.
In addition, companies will be allowed to revise their methods for calculating advance income tax payments, for example by basing those estimates on the current tax year, rather than previous years' results, according to the official statement.
Business taxpayers can also apply for a tax payment installment agreement to defer tax underpayments without interest, request a suspension of tax-underpayment collections or request abatement of penalties and late-payment interest.
For individual taxpayers in Lithuania, the deadline for submitting annual income tax returns and for remitting tax payments is extended from the original May 4 cutoff until July 1. The electronic version of the country's new individual income tax return, Form GPM311, won't be released until at least April, the tax authority stated.
The tax relief measures are part of €5 billion ($5.48 billion) in economic stimulus that the government of Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis has targeted in an effort to reduce the impact of the pandemic. That amount is about 10% of Lithuania's annual gross domestic product — an "unprecedented injection" of public funds into the country's economy, the government stated.
"This money will be used to secure employment, health and security for the population, and no doubt it will help business and stimulate the economy," Skvernelis was quoted as saying.
The tax plans alone will cost the state €500 million, according to the government.
"It is also recommended that municipalities exempt businesses from commercial real estate and land taxes, and recommended that municipalities be allowed to defer or schedule installment payments for utilities and heating energy," the statement said.
Much of the stimulus is aimed at strengthening the public health system in the country of 2.8 million people, which as of Wednesday had 26 confirmed cases of infection of the novel coronavirus, the cause of COVID-19.
On Sunday, Lithuania shut its borders to most foreign visitors while its Baltic Sea and European Union neighbors Estonia and Latvia imposed their own security measures to stem the spread of the coronavirus. The Lithuanian leader said his country had reinstated checks on its borders with Latvia and Poland. It has been on partial lockdown since last week, after the government shut down all schools and universities, banned large public events, and ordered most stores, restaurants and bars to close.
--Editing by John Oudens.
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