Romania’s Finance Ministry comes with new measures to reduce bureaucracy and stimulate investments

Romania’s Finance Ministry recently announced new measures to reduce bureaucracy and to stimulate the local business environment. Some of these measures are aimed at making it easier for taxpayers in Romania to pay their taxes while the others are tax facilities for local businesses. “The purpose of this new set of simplification measures is to encourage the online payment of all taxes and fees and to reduce the administrative burden for individuals and the business environment. The measures include proposals targeted at stimulating investments and people’s training,” said finance minister Anca Dragu, on Wednesday, September 21. One change is to increase the variety of documents accepted as payment proof in the taxpayers’ relationship with public institutions. For example, people who pay the tax for a new passport online should be able to print the online receipt and use it as payment proof. Until recently, the tax for a new passport could only be paid at CEC Bank units. However, this changed in July this year, when the Government launched its first program to reduce bureaucracy. The new measures will also allow taxpayers to get their income certificates and fiscal attestation certificates online and to send them online to other state institutions that ask for them. Until now, taxpayers had to go to the tax agency ANAF’s units to get these documents. The authorities also plan to develop electronic methods to block or unlock the taxpayers’ bank accounts in real time. This way, the tax agency ANAF will be able to block only some of the taxpayer’s accounts and only freeze the sum that it needs to recover. Moreover, there would be no more delays in lifting the garnishment from an account after the debts are paid. The Finance Ministry has also published a list with changes in the Fiscal Code that also affect some taxes. The tax exemption for reinvested profits will be extended to stimulate investments. The companies that want to invest in their employees’ training or in internship programs for students may get tax deductions for such expenses. The measures bring changes in the taxation of small enterprises and new VAT rules for farmers. Romania’s finance minister denies intention to increase any taxes or social contributions editor@romania-insider.com