Cyprus appoints new Commissioner of Taxation to lead merged departments (as dictated by international lenders)

The Cypriot House Finance Committee has approved the appointment of the new Commissioner of Taxation. Yiannakis Lazarou, a state attorney, has been appointed to head the new department, a merger between the Inland Revenue and VAT departments.

The single tax authority will comprise a tax commissioner and deputy commissioners, to be hired on five-year contracts with an option for a five-year renewal. Integration of the two departments was a condition set by Cyprus’s international lenders, as part of structural changes aimed at streamlining public administration.

Under the terms of the bailout, Cyprus must “reform the revenue administration with the objective to reinforce the efficiency and effectiveness of revenue collection capacity and the fight against tax fraud and evasion, with a view to increasing fiscal revenue.”

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