OREANDA-NEWS. August 01, 2014. The country's legal ombudsman has found no problem with a requirement that business owners must report all cases where sales transactions exceed 1,000 euros per customer within a reporting month.

"I find that the restriction of fundamental liberties that arises after the implementation of the annex to the monthly VAT return does not outweigh the potential positive consequences in this case," said Hent Kalmo, standing in for Chancellor of Justice Indrek Teder.

The Chancellor of Justice had been contacted by a non-profit, MTU Teenusmajanduse Koda, which said that although the requirement could be effective in combating the "tax hole" - the purpose stated by the Ministry of Finance and Tax Board - there were other, less burdensome measures that could be used, or the threshold could be raised far above 1,000 euros.

If sales of services of goods to a single customer exceed that mark during a month, the transactions have to be reported in an annex to the monthly VAT November is the first month affected. Returns for that month have to be filed by December 20.

The requirement caused some grumbling when it was passed by Parliament, and President Toomas Hendrik Ilves vetoed the first version. He signed an amended version into law in May.