A bill drafted for cutting the VAT rate from 19% to 16% effective January 1, 2020, was introduced on June 27 on the Senate’s agenda, Ziarul Financiar informed. The special VAT rate for food would be cut from 9% currently to 5%.

The move is aimed at fighting tax evasion, authors of the bill imply.

According to the latest information communicated by the European Commission, in 2016, Romania again ranked the last in terms of VAT collection rate among all EU Member States, with a VAT collection deficit of 35.9%, the authors of the bill argue.

The ruling program drafted by the senior ruling party, the Social Democratic Party (PSD), provided for a reduction in the VAT rate to 18% as early as this year. Historically, the standard VAT rate in Romania has fallen from 24% to 20% as of January 1, 2016, and as of January 1, 2017 it has fallen again from 20% to 19%.

editor@romania-insider.com

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