AmCham: Consultation process with Romanian authorities on Fiscal Code changes, below expectations

The Romanian authorities' response to proposals coming from private investors on the changes to the country's Fiscal Code were below expectations, and only a small part of the proposals have been taken into account. The American Chamber of Commerce in Romania (AmCham) and Foreign Investors’ Council (FIC) have submitted 220 proposals for modifying the Fiscal Code in Romania, after the Romanian Ministry of Finance’s announcement to change the fiscal legislation for modernizing it. “Of all the proposals we submitted on the Fiscal Procedure Code, a third were rejected, a third could still be discussed, and another third were accepted”, said Dan Schwartz, Managing Partner, Scot & Company Consulting. AmCham and FIC's proposals sent to the Romanian Ministry of finance at the beginning of July and have been discussed with Ministry officials in a series of meetings during July and August. “The authorities’ openness in the context of meeting to present AmCham-FIC proposals was encouraging. However the consultation process on the recently-adopted measures has been way below our expectations”, said Ionut Simion, AmCham Romania Vice-President (in picture). “We have submitted over 220 proposals, but a small part of these were taken into account”, he added. Other countries have implemented integrated systems that allowed the increase in tax collection, and the two organizations, AmCham Romania and FIC want that this kind of solutions to also be applied in Romania before discussing the application of new taxes, according to Simion. Changes in taxation, as well as on the labor segment are among priorities for AmCham in 2011, seen as central elements for both Romania’s economic recovery and its increased competitiveness at the regional level. AmCham and FIC think that these changes will be reflected in the GDP growth and increased budgetary collection. AmCham Romania represents 300 members, US and Romanian companies, with total investments of over USD 10 billion. AmCham Romania is affiliated to the US Chamber of Commerce and is a member of the European Council of American Chambers of Commerce. FIC was established in 1997 and currently has 128 member companies that cumulated investments in Romania of over EUR 30 billion. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com (photo source: AmCham)