Amendments of Legislative Acts

The legislative act introduces amendments to the legislation on leave and health social benefits. To that effect, among others, new regulations are added concerning mainly: the categories of insured persons receiving leave pay and benefits, the basis for calculation, the method of reporting/registration with the National Health Insurance House (CNAS), the method of applying for benefits etc.

The Emergency Ordinance no. 68/2014 amending and supplementing certain legislative acts.^[1]

[1] Published in the Official Journal, Part I no. 803 of 04/11/2014

The Establishment of Threshold Values for Intrastat

The threshold values related to the Intrastat reporting obligations for 2015 have been published:

• RON 900,000 for intra-Community shipments of goods;
• RON 500,000 for intra-Community arrivals of goods.

Economic operators who during 2014 exchanged goods with EU Member States the annual value of which, separately for the two flows, shipments and arrivals of goods, exceeds the set Intrastat threshold values shall fill out and submit Intrastat statistical declarations to the National Institute of Statistics as of January of 2015.

Order no. 567/2014 on Intrastat threshold values for collecting statistical information of intra-Community trade of goods in 2015.^[2]

[2] Published in the Official Journal, Part I no. 841 of 18/11/2014

Customs Formalities for Goods transported on the Danube River

This Order refers to the transport on the Danube River of non-Community goods brought into the European Union without customs formalities and to the main responsibilities of the customs offices in this respect.

Order no. 3177/2014 concerning the customs formalities carried out for goods transported on the Danube River.^[3]

[3] Published in the Official Journal, Part I no. 838 of 18/11/2014

Regulations for filling out the Intrastat Declaration

This Order approves the regulations for filling out the Intrastat statistical declaration, and they are updated according to the national and European legislation.

Order no. 569/2014 on the approval of the Regulations for filling out the Intrastat statistical declaration^[4]

[4] Published in the Official Journal, Part I no. 854 of 24/11/2014

The Nominal Value of a Meal Voucher

This Order regulates the value of meal vouchers related to the second half of 2014; starting from November the nominal value of a meal voucher is RON 9.35 and this value remains unchanged from the previous one.

Order no. 2207/2014 on the establishment of the nominal value of a meal voucher for the second half of 2014.^[5]

[5] Published in the Official Journal, Part I no. 845 of 20/11/2014

The Value of Child Care Vouchers

This Order regulates the value of child care vouchers related to the second half of 2014; starting from November the value of a child care voucher is RON 440.

Order no. 2208/2014 establishing the value of the monthly indexed amount granted as child care vouchers for the second half of 2014.^[6]

[6] Published in the Official Journal, Part I no. 845 of 20/11/2014

The Organization of the Activity of Medium Taxpayers

The legislative act determines the removal of medium-sized taxpayers from the administration of the county offices of public finance or of the Tax Office for medium-sized taxpayers from the Regional Directorate-General of Public Finance of Bucharest as of the 1^st of January of the following year if the specific conditions are no longer met.

The Order suspends the regulation providing for the selection criteria related to the organization of the activity of administration of medium-sized taxpayers in terms of the volume of the tax obligations due and the turnover reported for the previous year.

Order no. 3564/2014 amending the Order of the President of the National Agency for Fiscal Administration no. 3.582/2013 regarding the organization of the activity of administration of medium-sized taxpayers.^[7]

[7] Published in the Official Journal, Part I no. 863 of 27/11/2014

The Organization of the Activity of Large Taxpayers

The legislative act stipulates that the capacity of large taxpayer is awarded as of 1 January 2015 to the entities resulting from the merger with other taxpayers and branches of taxpayers — foreign legal entities that acted as such as at 31 December 2014.

This Order amends some of the conditions for removal from the administration of the Directorate-General of Administration of Large Taxpayers. The Order suspends the application of the criterion on the volume of the tax obligations due and the turnover reported in the concluded financial statements.

Order no. 3565/2014 amending the Order of the President of the National Agency for Fiscal Administration no. 3.581/2013 regarding the organization of the activity of administration of large taxpayers.^[8]

[8] Published in the Official Journal, Part I no. 863 of 27/11/2014

The Reference Interest Rate

As of the 5^th of November, the NBR reference interest rate is 2.75% a year, down by 0.25% from the previous applicable rate (3.% a year).

Circular no. 36/2014 regarding the reference interest rate of the National Bank of Romania^[9]

[9] Published in the Official Journal, Part I no. 805 of 05/11/2014

Claw-back Tax Amendments

The Ordinance amends, among others, the regulations establishing the contributions for the financing of certain expenses in the field of health for the holders of licences of marketing of medicines (the claw-back tax).

This Order amends:

• The method of calculation of the contribution;
• The reporting methods;
• The administration of the contribution;
• The payment of the interests and penalties if the transfer of the contributions is not made within the legally prescribed term.

Moreover, clarifications are made on the term of payment of the contribution by the license holders who are not Romanian legal persons.

Emergency Ordinance no. 69/2014 on certain financial measures in the field of health and amending certain legislative acts. ^[10]

[10] Published in the Official Journal, Part I no. 807 of 05/11/2014

The Annual Property Inventory Taking

Please remember that on closing the financial year companies are required to conduct the annual property inventory taking according to the regulations of Law no. 82/1991. The failure to comply with the regulations issued by the Ministry of Economy and Finance on the inventory taking is a contravention in relation to the provisions of accounting Law no. 82/1991 and shall be fined from RON 400 to RON 5,000. The compliance by companies with the property inventory taking requirements is not a mere legal obligation. Taking an inventory and conducting the valuation as at the date of the financial statements for the assets, liabilities and equity considering the inventory value form an essential element in ensuring a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position, profit or loss of the entity in the financial statements so that their users might be able to take the best decisions.

To that effect, the following procedural issues shall be observed:

• The inventory taking in relation to assets, liabilities and equity represents all the operations which determine the existence of all these elements, in terms of quantity and value or only value, as applicable, as at the date on which it is conducted;
• The responsibility for the proper organization of the inventory taking works, according to Law no. 82/1991, as republished, and in accordance with the applicable accounting regulations, devolves upon the Director;
• Companies are required to issue their own inventory taking procedures, based on the legal regulations, approved by the Director of the entity; these shall be submitted to the Inventory Committees;
• All items such as assets shall be handed over under management responsibility or in use, as appropriate, to the employees or directors of the entity;
• The inventory taking in terms of the assets, liabilities and equity shall be performed by Inventory Committees appointed by a written decision issued by the Director of the entity. The appointing decision shall specify the members of the Committee (the names of the Committee Chairperson and members), the method of taking the inventory, the inventory taking method used, the management subject to inventory taking, the date of commencement and completion of the operations;
• If the entities have no employee who might perform the inventory taking operation, this will be performed by the directors;
• For the smooth running of the inventory taking operations, the Inventory Committees shall include people with proper economic and technical training who might ensure the proper and timely performance of the inventory taking for the assets, liabilities and equity, including their valuation under applicable accounting regulations;
• The inventory taking and valuation of the assets, liabilities and equity may be performed both using own employees, and based on contracts for the provision of services entered into with legal persons or individuals with proper training;
• The Inventory Committee may not include the managers of the warehouses subject to the inventory taking, the accountants keeping the accounts of that management or any statutory or internal auditors;
• Based on internal procedures, the entities may decide that the inventory taking operations might also be attended by the accountants keeping the accounts of that management, but they may not be part of the Committee;
• The results of the inventory taking shall be recorded by the Inventory Committee in the relevant minutes;
• The minutes on the results of the inventory taking shall primarily contain the following elements: the development date, the surnames and first names of the members of the Inventory Committee, the number and date of the Inventory Committee appointment decision, the management being inventoried, the date of commencement and completion of the inventory taking operation, the results of the inventory taking, the conclusions and proposals of the Committee on the causes of the noted excesses and deficits and the guilty persons, as well as proposals for measures related thereto, the volume of impaired, inactive, slow moving inventories or inventories that are difficult to sell, without ensured sale and proposals for measures to re-integrate them into the economic circuit, proposals for the decommissioning of tangible assets and the deregistration of intangible assets, respectively; proposals for the retirement of materials such as inventory items and the downgrading or scrapping of certain inventories, findings in terms of keeping, storing, preserving, ensuring the integrity of the property from the management, as well as other aspects of the activity of the inventoried management;
• The proposals contained in the minutes of the Inventory Committee shall be submitted within seven business days from the date of conclusion of the inventory taking operations to the Director who, with the approval of the head of Finance and Accounting Department and of the head of the Legal Department, shall decide on solving the presented proposals in line with the legal provisions;
• The results of the inventory taking shall be recorded in the technical and operational records no later than seven business days from the date of approval of the inventory minutes by the Director;
• The result of the inventory taking shall be recorded in the accounts according to Law no. 82/1991, as republished, and in accordance with the applicable accounting regulations;
• Based on the inventory book and the trial balance prepared at the end of the financial year the balance sheet shall be drawn up, which is part of the annual financial statements, the positions of which shall match the data recorded in the accounts, harmonized with the real situation of the assets, liabilities and equity, determined on the basis of the inventory.

The Revaluation of Constructions

At the end of the financial year entities may re-value the assets in accordance with the provisions of Order no. 3055/2009.

The revaluation of tangible assets shall be made at the fair value as at the balance sheet date. The fair value shall be determined based on valuations usually conducted by valuation qualified professionals who are members of a professional body in the field, which is recognized both nationally and internationally.

In re-valuating tangible assets, the accumulated depreciation as at the date of the re-valuation shall be treated in one of two ways:

• It shall be recalculated in proportion to the change of the gross carrying amount of the asset so that the carrying amount of the asset after re-valuation might be equal to its re-valued amount. This method is often used when the asset is re-valued by applying an index; or
• It shall be eliminated from the gross carrying amount of the asset and the net amount, as determined after the correction with the adjustments, shall be recalculated at the re-valued amount of the asset. This method is often used for buildings which are re-valued at their market value.

In the case of a building which has not been re-valued, the building tax rate shall be determined by the Local Council/General Council of Bucharest between:

• 10% and 20% for buildings not re-valued in the last three years prior to the reference tax year;
• 30% and 40% for buildings not re-valued in the last five years prior to the reference tax year.

The building tax rate shall be applied to the building inventory value recorded in the accounts of legal entities.

The Financial Audit

Entities required to conduct a financial audit under Romanian laws are:

• Companies which, on closing a financial year, meet at least two of the following three criteria:
  1. They have total assets of over EUR 3,650,000;
  2. They have a net turnover of over EUR 7,300,000;
  3. They have an average number of employees during the financial year which is higher than or equal to 50.
• Public interest companies: credit institutions, insurance/reinsurance companies regulated and supervised by the NSC (National Securities Commission), companies the securities of which are admitted to trading on a regulated market, national companies and firms, legal entities belonging to a group of companies which are part of the scope of consolidation by a parent company applying the International Financial Reporting Standards, leasing companies and legal persons other than those above that receive grants or loans with State guarantee.