During the month of May in the context of the pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus, FINEXPERT published a series of legislative alerts that you can access on our website:

• •    Updating the application for days off for parents and amendments of the fiscal risk criteria regarding VAT registration


• •    Exemptions from customs duties and VAT, certificate for emergency situations type 2 and press release regarding the fiscal amnesty


• •    Amendments to the Fiscal Code and bonuses for the timely payment of the profit tax / income of micro-enterprises / specific tax for Q2 and Q3 2020


• •    Extension of social protection measures in the context of the epidemiological situation caused by the spread of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus

Law no. 62/2020 on the application of facilities for the payment of rent for the state of emergency period was published in the Official Gazette, Part I, no. 425 of May 21, 2020.

I. Postponement of rent payment for tenants

• • Tenants (economic operators, free professions, legal entities under private law, individuals) may postpone upon request, without payment of interest and penalties, the payment of rent for the use of real estate registered as offices, workplaces or dwellings in the following conditions:



i. The activity has been interrupted or




ii. Revenues or cash receipts decreased by at least 15% in March 2020 compared to the average of the previous calendar year, or




iii. Individuals who were directly or indirectly affected during the state of emergency.



• • The rent payment will be made by the competent territorial fiscal body, in the account of the lessors, for the period of the state of emergency and 30 days further to its termination.


• • The payment deferral procedure is performed based on the submission of an application by the tenant together with the following documents:



i. Lease agreement;




ii. Addendum containing: the agreement of the parties to defer the payment of the rent, the deferral period and the related amount, the identification data, the bank account, the signatures of the parties;




iii. Any deed of the tenant proving the impossibility to pay the rent.



• • The facility is applicable to contracts that cumulatively meet the following conditions:



i. the monthly rent specified in the addendum is less than or at most equal to the rent of February 2020;




ii. the value of the monthly rent from the addendum is of maximum RON 10,000 for the economic operators, for each location, and maximum RON 2,000 for individuals for a single location.



• • The application can also be submitted by e-mail to an address that will be published on the website of each territorial fiscal body.


• • The tenants will return the rent paid by the fiscal body, staggered in equal installments, until December 31, 2020.


• • Within 15 days from the publication of the Law in the Official Gazette, the procedure for implementing the facility is expected to also be published.

II. Tax advantages regarding the reduction of rents

Individuals

• • For the year 2020, the income from the transfer of the use of real estate obtained on the basis of rental / sublease or usufruct contracts obtained by individuals for whom the rent was reduced by at least 30% compared to the level of February 2020 is not taxable;


• • These revenues are not included in the calculation of the ceiling of health insurance contributions;


• • The application period of the facility is the one during which the decrease of the equivalent value of the use of the real estate was negotiated, but not more than December 31, 2020.

Profits tax payers / micro-enterprises

• • In case of corporate taxpayers and micro-enterprises, income from the transfer of the use of real estate obtained under leases / subleases or usufruct is taxable only in proportion of 80% of their value provided that the level of rent is reduced by at least 20% of the rent level for February 2020;


• • The application period of the facility is the one during which the decrease of the value of the use of the real estate was negotiated, but not more than December 31, 2020.

OPANAF no. 1029/2020 regarding the form for reporting information on cross-border arrangements was published in the Official Gazette no. 407 of May 18, 2020.

From 1 July 2020, financial intermediaries must report to tax institutions information that they have become aware of or are in possession of or under their control, regarding cross-border arrangements that are subject to reporting within 30 days, as follows:

• • from the day following the date on which the cross-border arrangement that is the subject to reporting is made available for implementation;


• • from the day following the date on which the reporting cross-border arrangement is ready for implementation;


• • from the moment the first step was taken in the implementation of the cross-border arrangement that is the subject of the report.

DAC6 transposes EU Directive 2018/822 and provides for the automatic exchange of information between the Member States of the European Union. The persons who have to declare these cross- border transactions are: accountants, tax consultants (as intermediaries), lawyers, notaries, even the companies themselves. Such a tax arrangement involves either more than one Member State of the European Union or one Member State and one third country.

Failure to comply with this reporting obligation by the persons mentioned above entails a penalty of up to RON 100,000.

The reporting period, for relevant intermediaries and taxpayers, is 30 days from the date on which they became aware of a cross-border arrangement.

The reporting is done online, using the electronic format provided by ANAF. For the previous period, the relevant intermediaries or taxpayers, as appropriate, shall report by August 31, 2020 the cross- border arrangements that are the subject of the reporting for the period from June 25, 2018 to July 1, 2020.

The form is structured as follows:

• • the first section contains the identification data of the declarant (type of person, address, contact details, tax residence, reporting obligation in the Member State, what is its role if it declares himself an intermediary as well as the number of arrangements);


• • the next section contains data about the arrangement, the scheme of the arrangement (the relevant taxpayer, the intermediary, which are the associated enterprises - if applicable, who is the affected person).

GEO no. 70 on the regulation of fiscal-budgetary measures in the context of the epidemiological situation determined by the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, published in the Official Gazette no. 394 of May 14, 2020

Next we will present the fiscal measures that have been adopted:

• • Exemption from VAT with deduction right for deliveries of medicines, protective equipment, other devices or medical equipment and sanitary materials that can be used in combating COVID-19 (provided in the annex to the GEO) made to legally constituted associations and foundations. It shall apply until September 1, 2020. The supplier shall justify the exemption from VAT with the declaration on his own responsibility regarding the destination of the goods, made available to him by the beneficiary association / foundation, the latest by the time of delivery;


• • For taxable income obtained from Romania by residents and non-residents from the organization of events rescheduled until the end of 2021, following the spread of COVID-19, the tax will be computed and withheld at the time of payment of the income and is declared and paid to the budget until the 25th of the month following the one in which the event took place;


• • The following addition is made on art. 25, Fiscal Code: the expenses resulting from the assignments of government securities, bonds and other debt instruments that give the holder a contractual right to collect cash will be deductible when computing the fiscal result.

Common Order 1,942/979/819/2020 of the Ministry of Public Finance, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection and the Ministry of Health on the approval of the model, content and method of submission and management of the "Declaration on obligations to pay social security contributions, income tax and the nominal record of the insured persons” was published in the Official Gazette no. 426 / 21.05.2020

The main amendments to 112 form concern the declaration of taxes related to allowances for days off granted to parents and technical unemployment.

GEO no. 90/2020 regarding the extension of some terms for restructuring the budgetary obligations was published in the Official Gazette no. 459 of May 29, 2020

In order to support taxpayers' financial resources, it was necessary to adopt tools to protect the business environment and the economic system. The main amendments of GO no. 6/2019 by GEO 90/2020, are:

• • The tax obligations that can be restructured will be the outstanding ones on March 31, 2020 (instead of December 31, 2018);


• • Those obligations established by the competent fiscal body by tax decision after April 1, 2020 will be included in the category of outstanding fiscal obligations on March 31, 2020;


• • Extension of the deadline for submitting the notification on the intention to restructure the budget obligations, until September 30, 2020 and the deadline for submitting the restructuring application until December 15, 2020;


• • Transitory measures are provided, thus, requests regarding the restructuring of the budgetary obligations pending on the date of entry into force of this emergency ordinance, are to be resolved according to the legislation in force at the date of submission of the request or the debtors can choose by request addressed to the competent fiscal body, within 10 days from the date of entry into force of this emergency ordinance, to recast the restructuring plan with outstanding budget obligations on March 31, 2020 and submit a new application by December 15, 2020;


• • In short, the restructuring in question include, where appropriate, the rescheduling of tax obligations, the cancellation of accessories (interest and late payment penalties), the cancellation of up to 50% of the main budgetary obligations.

The deadline has been extended for certain tax facilities that expired 30 days after the end of the state of emergency (June 14, 2020), the new deadline being June 25, 2020:

• • non-application of accessories (interest and late payment penalties) for tax obligations due by March 21, 2020;  suspension or non-initiation of enforcement measures;


• • VAT refund with subsequent control for a wider category of taxpayers;


• • maintaining the payment installments in case of non-compliance with the standard conditions.

The Emergency Ordinance no. 92/2020 for the establishment of active support measures for employees and employers in the context of the epidemiological situation caused by the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, as well as for the amendment of some normative acts

The Romanian Government has published a new series of urgent measures, with an exceptional character, in the social field. We list below the main adopted measures.

Specifications of the financial support measures for employees, starting with June 1, 2020:

• • the employers whose employees have had individual employment contracts suspended, in the period of emergency or alert, whether or not they benefit from the settlement of the technical unemployment incentive from the budget so far, benefits for a period of three months, from the settlement of a part of the salary, paid from the unemployment insurance budget, representing 41.5% of the gross basic salary corresponding to the job occupied, but not more than 41.5% of the average gross salary provided by the Law on the state social insurance budget for 2020; 

Note: in the situation mentioned above, the employers are obliged to maintain the labor relations until December 31, 2020, except for the seasonal workers. The obligation does not apply if the termination of the employment contract occurs for reasons not attributable to the employer. The employers who terminate their individual employment contracts before December 31, 2020 are required to reimburse in full to the employment agencies the amounts received for each person for whom the employment relationship ended before that period, plus the reference interest rate of the National Bank of Romania in force on the date of termination of individual employment contracts.

• • the financial support measures apply only to the individuals who cumulatively meet the following conditions: - had a duration of suspension of the individual employment contract of at least 15 days during the state of emergency or alert; - they benefited either from an indemnity subsidized by the state or from an indemnity supported from the employer's budget.

Specifications regarding employers who have several objects of activity:

• • the employers who have several objects of activity, at least one of which is subject to the restrictions established by acts of the competent authorities, must choose one of the following facilities: - ask for a period of 3 (three) months 41.5% of the salaries of reactivated employees; or - request technical unemployment for employees retained in technical unemployment until the restrictions are lifted.

Specifications regarding the payment of amounts:

• • in order to settle the amounts mentioned above, the employers fully bear the equivalent value of the salaries of the employees who benefit from the provisions of the GEO no. 92/2020 and subsequently, starting with the first date until the 25th of the month following the reporting period to which the income is related, submit, by electronic means, to the competent employment agencies the following:



1) an application signed and dated by the legal representative;

2) a statement on own responsibility;

3) the list of persons who benefit from this amount, assumed by the legal representative of the employer.



• • the settlement of amounts from unemployment insurance budget is made within a maximum of 10 days from the date of fulfillment by the employers, according to the law, of the declarative and payment obligations related to the income from salaries and assimilated to the salaries from the reporting period for which the request is made;


• • the payment of the amounts is made by transfer to the accounts opened by the employers at the credit institutions, after the verification by the county employment agencies, as well as by of the Bucharest employment agency of the fulfillment of the above mentioned conditions.

Specifications regarding the employers who do not benefit from the settlement of amounts:

• • The following employers do NOT benefit from the settlement of the amounts mentioned above: - the public institutions and authorities; - the employers who at the date of requesting the granting of these amounts are in bankruptcy, dissolution, liquidation or who have suspended activities or restrictions on them for reasons other than those generated by the spread of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

Note: the amounts mentioned above are not cumulated with the indemnities granted in the case of employees for whom the employers have concluded with the county employment agencies, respectively of Bucharest the contracts or conventions for the graduates of some educational institutions, for the unemployed over 45-year-olds, for the unemployed who are single parents supporting single-parent families, the long-term unemployed or young NEETs, and for young people at risk of social marginalization.

Specifications regarding the extension of the period for granting the technical unemployment:

• • granting unemployment benefits for all fields of activity in which restrictions are maintained under the conditions of Law no. 55/2020 on some measures to prevent and combat the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, is extended after May 31, 2020, until the lifting of these restrictions.