Dialogue between the public and private sectors has been organized jointly by Governance for Growth (G4G) Project of the United States Agency of International Development (USAID) and Ministry of Finance of Georgia at Courtyard Marriott Hotel in Tbilisi, Georgia on July 9, 2015. It was related to the past and planned amendments to the tax legislation of the country.

H.E. Nodar Khaduri, Minister of Finance of Georgia launched the meeting together with Ms. Carol Wilson, Director of Economic Growth Office of USAID. It was attended by Mr. Giorgi Tabuashvili, First Deputy Minister of Finance and Director General of Georgian Revenue Service; Mr. Lasha Khutsishvili, Deputy Minister of Finance of Georgia.

Presentations were made by MOF officials on the amendments planned to the Tax Code and administration, along with the improvement of taxpayer services. Dialogue turned out to be interactive with the engagement of private sector and civil society.

With support of G4G, Ministry of Finance introduced taxpayers with amendments to the Tax Code and Tax Policy, along with a plan of further improvements to administration so that taxpayer suggestions and interests are better reflected in the new legislation.

Tax administration reform is one of the key directions of G4G and is aimed at the establishment of a competitive business environment, along with the implementation of economic reforms through a dialogue between the authorities and civil society.

Project consultants are actively cooperating the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and Georgian Revenue Service (GRS) on the simplification of tax administration by facilitating the development of an Action Plan for Public Decision-Making and Tax Code Improvements with an aim of approximation with EU Directives on value added tax (VAT).

G4G is a five-year-long project of USAID with a budget of 19.3 MLN USD. It is aimed at the support of the Government of Georgia (GOG) in improving the business environment by designing and implementing the fair and transparent reform agenda for the improvement of legislative and regulatory framework.