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Changes regarding the obligation of economic operators to use electronic fiscal cash registers
Ordinance no. 20 dated August 30, 2017 for the regulation of fiscal-budgetary measures and the modification and extension of several deadlines.
The Ordinance amends GEO 28/1999 on the obligation of economic operators to use electronic fiscal cash registers. The changes refer to the deadlines for introducing new electronic fiscal cash registers to be interconnected with NAFA servers.
The notices on the distribution of electronic fiscal cash registers given to authorized distributors shall remain valid until the expiry date, but no later than July 31, 2018 (extension from October 1st, 2017).
Starting August 1st, 2018 (prior deadline: October 1st, 2017), the sale of cash registers that include a fiscal module controlling the fiscal memory, the print device, and the client display by authorized distributors is a contravention and it is sanctioned with a fine from RON 2,000 to RON 4,000.
Starting April 1st, 2018, only distributors selling electronic fiscal cash registers including cash register devices equipped with an electronic journal storage device which include a fiscal module controlling the memory fiscal, the print device, the storage device, the client display, the external save device, and the external communication device that allow integration into a computer system shall be authorized.
Starting June 1st, 2018, economic operators that are large and medium-sized taxpayers have the obligation to use only cash registers with the specifications mentioned above.
Starting August 1st, 2018, economic operators that are small taxpayers have the obligation to use only cash registers with the specifications mentioned above.
Starting September 13, 2017, the amount of the fines applied in the following cases changes as follows:
Fine from RON 2000 to RON 4000 (previously RON 3000) for:
• Non-compliance by the users with the obligation to notify the accredited service unit at the moment when a failure of the electronic fiscal cash registers is ascertained;
• If the users of electronic fiscal cash registers that no longer work and/or devices seized under the law or taken over for use by banking companies as a result of the non-payment of the contracted loan for the purchase of such devices, if they are used only through authorized distributors;
• Refusal of the user to allow the service technician access to the unit to perform checks at the request and in the presence of control bodies on electronic fiscal cash registers.
Fine from RON 4,000 to RON 6,000 (previously RON 9,000) for:
• Failure to comply with the obligation of users of electronic fiscal cash registers to keep and archive of the journal roll/electronic journal storage device, the daily fiscal report and the special register;
• Failure to keep, fill in and update the intervention book or technical assistance file.
Fine from RON 10000 to RON 20000 (previously RON 12500) for:
• Non-fulfillment of the obligation of the economic operators to acquire electronic fiscal devices, purchased only from authorized distributors or accredited sale units, an offence sanctioned with the suspension of the activity performed by the economic operator in the goods sale or service provision unit, until the acquisition of a fiscal electronic cash register and the submission of the proof of payment of the full fine or of half of its amount, as the case may be, with the inspection body, as well as seizure of the amounts for which no supporting documents have been issued;
• Continuation of delivery of goods or provision of services after the suspension of activity performed by economic operator at the working point, an offence sanctioned with the seizure of the sums collected as well.
Fine from RON 20000 to RON 30000 (previously RON 50000) for:
• Users of electronic fiscal cash registers that do not comply with the obligation to use only consumables of the type and technical specifications provided in the user manual of the said device, which ensures that the data is still legible during the archiving period and ensures the archiving of the data. -
Form 112 update
Order no. 1024 of July 20, 2017 for the approval of the template, content and manner of submission and management of the "Single Return for social security liabilities, personal income tax and details of insured persons".
The Order updates form 112 for social security liabilities, personal income tax and details of insured persons.
Section G was introduced - information on death benefits granted, where information on the deceased person and the aid recipient need to be filled in.
This form shall be submitted by the the form submission deadlines for October 2017. -
The procedure for granting income tax exemptions for R & D and innovation
Order 2326 of August 29, 2017 on establishing the procedure for granting the fiscal facility provided in art. 60 point 3 of Law no. 227/2015 regarding the Fiscal Code.
The Order sets forth the procedure for granting tax incentives in the sense of income tax exemption for individuals who receive income from research and development activities.
The conditions imposed by the Fiscal Code for granting these facilities are the following:
• The exemption shall be granted to all persons who are included in the team of a research-development and innovation project, as defined in GO 57/2002, with defined result indicators;
• The exemption shall be granted within the limit of the expenses for the staff assigned to the research-development and innovation project, which are clearly identified in the project budget;
• The payroll for salary and similar income, obtained by each employee from the activities carried out within the research-development and innovation project, shall be drawn up separately for each project.
The procedure approved by this order sets forth the following conditions:
• The project should contain a number of defining elements, such as:
• Purpose;
• The research & development and innovation field;
• Objectives;
• Period;
• Type of funding source (public/private/national/external);
• The budget, with a breakdown of the expenses with salary and similar income of the staff included in the project;
• The novelty and/or innovative aspects of the result;
• Defined result indicators.
• If the amounts allocated to the project also include holiday leave allowances amounts, the said income shall be exempt from income tax;
• The tax exemption for salary and similar income shall be granted even if the objectives of the research & development and innovation project are not met;
• The supporting documents taken into account when employing individuals exempt from salary and similar income tax as a result of carrying out research & development and innovative activities and innovation within the projects include:
• Document with the identification data of the R & D and innovation project;
• Project timesheets;
• Payroll issued separately for each project.
It is the responsibility of the employer/income payer or the individual to grant salary income tax exemptions. For relocated individuals carrying out R & D and innovation activities in Romania, the task of fulfilling the stipulated conditions lies with the income payer. -
Procedure for individual part-time employment contracts
Minister of Finance Order no. 2343 of August 31, 2017 on the procedure of applying the provisions of art. 140 para. (3) letter e) of Law no. 227/2015 on the Fiscal Code approves the procedure that applies to employees who, during the same month, earn salary or similar income based on two or more individual employment contracts and the cumulative monthly basis for them is at least equal to the gross national minimum wage in force during the month in which they were incurred, for which employers or similar persons owe social security and health insurance contributions to the actual gross monthly income rather than to the guaranteed gross national minimum wage, corresponding to the number of working days during the month in which the contract was active.
To apply the procedure, employees in the above-mentioned situation have the obligation to submit with each employer or similar person an affidavit showing that the cumulative gross monthly salary or similar income, based on several individual employment contracts are at least equal to the guaranteed gross national minimum wage.
As exception, if one of the employer’s employees earn a monthly gross income corresponding to the number of days worked in that month, at least equal to the guaranteed gross national minimum wage, they are not obliged to submit the affidavit with the said employer.
The affidavit shall be submitted on a monthly basis, during the period in which the salary remains as forecast, until the 5th of the month following that for which the salary rights are constituted.
To fill out the affidavit by the deadline set for its submission, each employer shall issue to the employee, upon request, a document showing the monthly gross income earned.
If the employee fails to submit the affidavit, each employer or similar person shall set the monthly basis for calculating the social security and the health insurance contributions at the level of the gross national minimum wage corresponding to the number of days worked during the month in which contract was active, if the gross income earned is below the gross minimum wage.
To be eligible for inclusion in the situation stipulated in the first paragraph, the employee needs to add up the gross monthly salary or similar income, and compare the resulting amount with the gross national minimum wage in force for the month for which the social contributions are due. To apply the procedure, the period during which the individual contract is active is the period during which the individual labor contract is not suspended according to the Labor Code.
If, during the said month, the individual employment contract is active for a fraction of the month, the gross national minimum wage for the days worked during the month shall be set as follows:
(Gross national minimum wage / Number of working days per month) x Number of days worked during the month
The Affidavit is a documentary evidence for each employer to determine the basis for the calculation of the social security and the health insurance contributions due in accordance with the provisions of Art. 140 (1) of the Fiscal Code, during the period in which the employee receives during the same month salary or similar income based on two or more individual employment contracts and the cumulative monthly basis for their calculation is at least equal with the gross national minimum wage.
The employer has the obligation to register and keep records of these affidavits in order to make the employee eligible for the situation regulated in art. 140 para. (3) letter e) of the Fiscal Code.
The affidavit includes as mandatory requirements the employee identification data as well as information regarding the employee's eligibility for the situation stipulated in art. 140 para. (3) letter e) of the Fiscal Code. The Order included as annex an affidavit template and a series of examples illustrating the application of the procedure in various cases. -
Postponement of payment of import duties due for two or more customs operations
Order 2670 of September 12, 2017 for the approval of the Technical Regulations for authorizing the postponement the payment of import duties due for two or more customs operations.
The Order approves the technical regulations for authorizing the postponement of the payment of import duties due for two or more customs operations.
The authorization to postpone the payment of import duties shall be granted upon request, under the conditions and during the period provided for in Art. 110-111 of the Union Customs Code, to applicants holding an authorization to use the comprehensive guarantee issued under Art. 95 of the Union Customs Code, geographically valid in Romania.
The application form and the issuance of the authorizations to postpone the payment of import duties, and their management shall be made with the help of the central customs decision-making system developed at the level of the European Union and made available to the economic operators and the customs authorities of the Member States by the European Commission in accordance with the provisions of Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/578.
The customs authority receiving the applications, issuing and managing the authorizations to postpone the payment of import duties shall be:
• The General Customs Directorate for applications and authorizations to postpone the payment of import duties valid in several Member States;
• The customs office competent in the place where the applicant primary accounting records for customs purposes are kept or available and where at least part of the licensed activities are to be carried out in circumstances other than those referred to under letter a).
This Order shall apply starting from October 2nd, 2017. -
Procedure for approving the implementation of the VAT exemption
Order no. 2376 of September 6th, 2017 for the approval of the Procedure for implementing the VAT exemption provided for in Art. 294 paragraph (1), letter p) of Law no. 227/2015 regarding the Fiscal Code.
The Order approves the procedure for implementing the VAT exemption provided for in art. 294 paragraph (1), letter p) of the Fiscal Code, exemption applicable to goods deliveries to recognized organizations transporting or dispatching such goods outside the European Union as part of humanitarian, charitable or educational activities carried out outside the European Union.
The exemption applies to individuals who are not registered for VAT purposes by VAT refund, under the conditions set out in the procedure. Individuals registered for VAT purposes exercise their deductibility right for purchases of goods benefiting from the tax exemption with deductibility through tax return.
For the purpose of this procedure, the bodies referred to in art. 294, paragraph (1), point (f) of the Fiscal Code are bodies recognized by Romania or another Member State of the European Union which have philanthropic objectives and are engaged in humanitarian, charitable or educational activities outside the European Union. -
Form 700 (Registration/amendments form of the categories of tax return submissions included in the tax vector)
Order no. 2372 of August 9th, 2017 approves the new form 700 - Registration/amendments form of the categories of tax return submissions included in the tax vector. It will be implemented from January 1st, 2018, and used to modify the taxpayer's tax vector, as it is valid for all taxpayer categories. On this occasion, the current forms used to keep records of the tax vector, namely forms 010, 013, 015, 020, 030, 040, and 070 are hereby eliminated.
The most important novelty is that the new form 700 will be submitted exclusively in electronic format, making it impossible to submit it on paper. This will diminish the degree of interaction between taxpayers and NAFA.
The new form includes the following options to update the tax vector:
• VAT - change of tax period. The Form does not include a section for VAT registration/registration cancellation;
• Income tax - taking in/out of the records and tax period;
• Micro-enterprise income tax - taking in/out of the records;
• Excise - taking in/out of the records;
• Salary income tax and social contributions - taking in/out of the records and tax period;
• Contribution to the financing of health expenditure - taking in/out of the records;
• Mining/petroleum royalties - taking in/out of the records;
• Tax on the natural monopoly in the electricity and natural gas sector - taking in/out of the records;
• Tax on additional income obtained from the regulation of prices in the natural gas sector - taking in/out of the records;
• Tax on income from exploitation of natural resources, other than natural gas - taking in/out of the records;
• Duties due under the gambling legislation - taking in/out of the records;
• Activity-specific tax - taking in/out of the records.
The form shall be submitted within 15 days of the occurrence of an event that has generated any change to the tax vector, except for the situations specifically mentioned in the legislation.
No other electronic documents shall be enclosed to the form. -
Draft order regarding the procedure and conditions for approval of the transfer of amounts from the VAT account
On 21.09.2017, the draft NAFA President's order on the procedure and conditions for approval of the transfer of amounts from the VAT account was published in the "Decisional Transparency" section of the NAFA website.
According to the draft, applications for the approval of the transfer of amounts from the VAT account shall be solved by the tax inspection body.
The application for the approval of the transfer of amounts from the VAT account (Form 310) can be submitted:
• electronically on the e-government portal, in the "Form submission" section
• with the registry of the competent tax body (copied on a CD and accompanied by the listed and signed form)
• by post with acknowledgment of receipt (copied on a CD and accompanied by the listed and signed form).
Depending on the nature of the amounts for which the transfer was requested, the order provides a list of the supporting documents (e.g. statements of account, invoices, contracts, etc.) that need to be submitted with the application. They will be enclosed in a true copy certified by the taxpayer.
The application shall be settled within 3 working days of the date of submission with the competent tax authority.
For partially approved or denied applications, the competent body shall invite the taxpayer to hearings. The settlement term shall be extended accordingly. Additional relevant evidence may be submitted during the hearing, in support of the application.
The application settlement decision may be appealed within 45 days of the communication date. -
Form 086 (Notice regarding the option to apply the VAT split-payment mechanism)
Order of the President of the National Agency for Fiscal Administration no. 2743 for the approval of the template, content and completion instructions of Form 086 - "Notice regarding the option to apply the VAT split-payment mechanism"
Form 086 - "Notice regarding the option to apply the VAT split-payment mechanism" shall be filled out and submitted by the taxable person registered for VAT purposes in Romania who opts for the application of the VAT split-payment mechanism between October 1st, 2017 and December 31, 2017.
The registration in the Register of persons who apply the VAT split-payment method ("the Register") by the competent fiscal body is made within 3 days of the notification submission date with the competent fiscal body or by post.
The taxable person opting for this mechanism shall be able to apply this mechanism from the day immediately following the registration in the Register.
Any presented information is general and is not meant to address the specific conditions of a particular individual or legal person. Although we try to provide accurate and up-to-date information, there is no warranty that such information is accurate at the time of its receipt or that it continues to be accurate. No action should be taken based on this information without relevant professional assistance following a careful examination of the circumstances that are typical of a particular state of affairs.
