No flat tax and social contribution reductions in Romania's new Fiscal Code

The flat tax reduction from 16% to 14% starting 2019 was removed from the new Fiscal Code project, which Romania’s Chamber of Deputies voted on Wednesday, June 24. So was the reduction of the social security contributions, which should have been enforced starting 2018. The Government initially planned to cut the social contributions from 10.5% to 7.5% for the employee, and from 15.8% to 13.5% for the employer, starting 2017. The Chamber of Deputies’ Budget and Finance Commission removed these long-term tax reductions, because it is hard to predict how the political or economic situation will look like in 2019, said MP Viorel Stefan, the Commission's president, cited by local Adevarul.ro. Taxes can be lowered anytime, by any lawmaker, he said. However, raising the taxes will be more difficult, as the Commission introduced a provision according to which any increase in taxes has to be announced six months in advance. editor@romania-insider.com