Law approving the Emergency Ordinance of Government No. 25/2018 amending and supplementing certain legislative acts, as well as approving fiscal-budgetary measures, published in the Official Gazette no. 44 of 17 January 2019, part I (Law no. 30/2019).

Notes:

• As a reminder, the new provisions bring several amendments concerning both the Fiscal Code, i.e. corporate tax, income tax, applicability of tax credit/redirecting of a percentage of the corporate tax in the context of sponsorships, value added tax, and the Fiscal Procedure Code.

For further information on the amendments made to the Law 30/2019, please refer to the legislative article “Amendments to the Fiscal Code and the Fiscal Procedure Code” published on FiNEXPERT website on 22 January 2019

 Law approving the Emergency Ordinance of Government No. 89/2018 on certain fiscal-budgetary measures and amending and supplementing certain legislative acts, published in the Official Gazette no. 28 of 10 January 2019, part I (Law no. 13/2019).

Notes:

• In accordance with the new regulations, the main amendments concern:

(i) The extension of VAT rate of 5% to the following services:

• transport of passengers using historical steam trains or vehicles on narrow-gauge railways for tourism or leisure purposes;


• transport of passengers using cableway facilities - cable car, gondola, chairlift, ski lift - for tourism or leisure purposes;


• transport of passengers using animal-powered vehicles, for tourism or leisure purposes;


• transport of passengers using watercrafts, for tourism or leisure purposes.

(ii) The local boards’ ability to grant the exemption or reduction of property tax or rental property tax due for buildings designed to sports activities, including the administrative buildings of sports facilities. The exemptions is applicable to all buildings within the jurisdiction of the administrative-territorial unit.

 Order approving the format and content of the forms 205 “Informative statement on the withholding tax and the gains/losses on investments, for each income beneficiary” and 207 “Informative statement on the withholding tax/exempt income, for each non-resident income beneficiary” published in the Official Gazette no. 38 of 15 January 2019, part I (Order no. 48/2019).

Notes:

• The time limit for submitting the two forms is 31 January (included) of the current year for the past year.


•  With regard to the form 205, we recall as follows:

(i) the “gross income” indicator has been removed;
(ii) the income earned by non-residents from gambling practiced in Romania has been introduced;
(iii) a section on dividend income, where both distributed and paid income is recorded, has been introduced.


• In case of the form 207:

(i) the information on gambling income category has been removed; the income earned by non-residents from gambling practiced in Romania shall be taxed as provided for in Title IV “Income tax” of the Fiscal Code.

 Order approving the format, content, methods of submission and management of the form “Sole tax return on income tax and social contributions due by natural persons”, published in the Official Gazette no. 43 of 16 January 2019, part I (Order no. 49/2019).

Notes:

• As a reminder, the form is completed and submitted by both the natural persons who earn or incur, on an individual basis or under a form of association, income or losses in Romania and/or from abroad, who owe income tax and mandatory social contributions, and the natural persons who do not earn any income and who choose to pay the social health insurance contribution.


• The time limit for submitting the return is 15 March 2019 (included) and it is submitted by the natural persons having an obligation to:

(i) report the tax on income earned in Romania and/or from abroad in the year 2018;
(ii) report the tax on the estimated income/income bracket to be earned in Romania in the year 2019;
(iii) report the estimated income with a view to qualifying as a payer of social contribution in the year 2019 and report the social contributions due in the year 2018, if any.


• The return is remotely transmitted by electronic means, such as:

(i) by means of the “Private Virtual Space” (SPV) service;
(ii) via e-guvernare.ro website, subject to qualified electronic signature.

 Decision approving the methodological implementing rules of the Law no. 165/2018 on the granting stored-value money cards, published in the Official Gazette no. 24 of 9 January 2019, Part I (Decision no. 1.045/2018).

Notes:

• As a reminder, for both employers and beneficiaries, the tax treatment applicable to lunch tickets, holiday vouchers, gift tickets, childcare vouchers and cultural gift vouchers, respectively, is that stated in the Fiscal Code and the relevant methodological rules.


• In accordance with the new provisions, the validity of stored-value money cards is determined as follows:

(i) The stored-value money cards, other than the lunch tickets, are valid for one year as of their date of issue on hard copy and as of the date of fund transfer for those electronically issued;
(ii) The lunch tickets are valid over the calendar year in which they have been issued, except for those issued between 1 November and 31 December. The latter may be used until the end of the following year.


• As regards the employers, they are required to establish, together with the trade union organisations or the representatives of employees, under the collective bargaining agreements or the Internal Regulations, the clauses governing the granting of stored-value money cards.


• We would like to mention that in case of cultural vouchers which may be granted as of January 2019, the maximum amount may be RON 150 for those offered on a monthly basis and RON 300 per event, for those offered on an occasional basis.

 Order setting the main aspects on the preparation and submission of the annual accounts and annual accounting reports of the economic operators with the territorial units of the Ministry of Public Finance, and regulating certain accounting aspects, published in the Official Gazette no. 35 of 14 January 2019, Part I (Order no. 10/2019).

Notes:

• This orders provides several indications on the main aspects relating to the preparation and submission of the annual accounts and annual accounting reports.


• As a reminder, the time limit for filing the annual accounting reports is:

(i) within 150 days from the end of fiscal year for the national companies, public companies, national research and development institutes, and
(ii) within 120 days from the end of fiscal year for:


• Companies, national companies, public companies, national  research and development institutes, cooperatives and the other legal persons;


• Public institutions, associations and the other for-profit/not-for-profit legal persons;


• Unincorporated subunits based abroad, belonging to the above-mentioned persons that are based in Romania, as well as unincorporated subunits based in Romania, belonging to legal persons that are based abroad.

 Order setting the due amount of tax claims in the context of datio in solutum, published with the Official Gazette no. 38 of 15 January 2019, part I (Order no. 51/2019).

Notes:

• Clarifications are made on how to determine the value of assets in the context of datio in solutum for the purpose of discharging the tax claims.

 Order approving the procedure for calculation by the central fiscal body of the amount of 2% of the due annual tax with a view to supporting the nonprofit entities that are set up and operate on the conditions set forth by the law and the religious establishments, or to offering private grants, in accordance with the law, or of the amount of 3.5% of the due annual tax with a view to supporting nonprofit entities and religious establishments, qualifying as accredited service providers and having at least one licensed service, on the conditions set forth by the law, as well as the format and content of certain forms, published in the Official Gazette no. 40 of 15 January 2019, part I (Order no. 50/2019).

Notes:

• We mention that the format and content of the form 230 “Request for the use of 2% or 3.5% of annual tax on income resulting from salaries and pensions”, as well as the instructions for completing.


• The time limit for submitting the form is 15 March (included).

Order on the Procedure for adjustment of tax liabilities in case of reassessment of a transaction/reclassification of a form of activity by the central fiscal body, published in the Official Gazette no. 61 of 23 January 2019, part I (Order no. 3.201/2018).

Notes:

• We recall that in accordance with fiscal regulations, the amounts determined by the central fiscal body following the reassessment of a transaction, are adjusted against the tax liabilities that are reported/paid by the taxpayer/payer prior to the reassessment of such transaction.


• Clarifications are made with respect to:

(i) The procedure for the adjustment of early payments in the context of reassessment of a transaction which had been subject to tax on income derived from the transfer of real property from the private patrimony of the natural persons and which was either reclassified as independent activity by ANAF, or was reclassified following the taxpayer’s reporting of income derived from independent activities.
(ii) The procedure for the adjustment of early payments in case of reclassification of a form of activity, from independent activity into dependent activity by ANAF.

 Order amending and supplementing the Order of the National Agency for Fiscal Administration no. 2.856/2017 setting the criteria for assessment of the tax risk in case of registration and cancellation of registration for value added tax purposes, published in the Official Gazette no. 80 of 31 January 2019, part I (Order no. 167/2019).

Notes:

• The form “Statutory declaration for registration on VAT purposes, pursuant to Art. 316 (1)(c) of the Law no. 227/2015 on the Fiscal Code, as further amended and supplemented”.


• The taxable persons applying for registration for VAT purposes, even thought the turnover achieved over a calendar year is lower than the registration threshold (RON 300,000) are liable to submit to the competent fiscal body, along with the form 010, the proof of submission of the above-mentioned statutory declaration.


• If the taxable persons submit the statutory declaration with no validation errors, they will not be regarded as persons at high tax risk. 


• The decision approving the application for registration for VAT purposes is issued on the day of its submission.


• The statutory declaration data will be checked within 15 days from the date of filing the application for registration for VAT purposes.


• If the information reported in the declaration is not consistent with the data available in ANAF records, the fiscal body will send a notice to the General Antifraud Directorate containing the resulting findings, along with the application for registration and the statutory declaration.

 Law amending and supplementing the Government Ordinance no. 39/2015 on the tax offence record, published in the Official Gazette no. 4 of 3 January 2019, part I (Law no. 346/2018).

Notes:

• In accordance with the new amendments, in case of a taxpayer under simplified insolvency proceedings, bankruptcy or winding up, the fiscal inactivity will not be entered in the tax offence record of the insolvency practitioner.


• The application for tax offence record issuing may be also electronically submitted.

 Law amending and supplementing the Law no. 70/2015 on the strengthening of financial discipline concerning the operations of collection and payment in cash, and amending and supplementing the Emergency Ordinance of Government no. 193/2002 on the introduction of modern payment systems, published in the Official Gazette no. 3 of 3 January 2019, part I (Law no. 344/2018).

Notes:

• In accordance with the amendments introduced by this law, in case of operations carried out using remotely operated payment instruments, the self-employed and the legal persons may transfer amounts from their account into the natural persons’ account, provided that legal supporting documents are kept by the payer.


• The failure to comply with this provision qualifies as an offence and is punished by a fine from RON 3,000 to RON 4,500.

Order amending and supplementing the annex to the Order of Minister of Public Finance no. 943/2016 on the type of tax claims that may be paid by credit cards through a POS, published in the Official Gazette no. 26 of 10 January 2019, part I (Order no. 3.899/2018).

Notes:

• In accordance with the provisions amended by this Order, new types of tax claims that may be paid by credit card through the POS have been introduced, including:

(i) Adjustments of the social health insurance contribution due by the insured;
(ii) Income from recovery of legal fees advanced by the state from the resident persons;
(iii) Amounts accounting for income tax and social contributions due by natural persons which are about to be distributed.