Romanian Government to increase cigarette excises three months early

The Romanian Government decided that the increase in the tax on cigarettes will be applied from April 1 this year and not July 1 as originally planned. This new increase date will continue annually up until 2017, and will generate additional revenues for the budget. The cigarette excises will be of EUR 79.19 per 1,000 cigarettes in April 2013 and will gradually increase to EUR 86.96 per 1,000 cigarettes by July 2015. The draft ordinance for amending the Fiscal Code also establishes that beer will have a higher excise of EUR 0.8228 per hl per 1 degree Plato (compared to EUR 0.748 today) and EUR 0.473 per hl per 1 degree Plato for independent producers with an annual production capacity not exceeding 200,000 hectoliters (from currently EUR 0.43). Degrees Plato is a measurement of sugar content in the brewing process, which has a bearing on the final alcohol content of fermented drinks. Ioana Toader, ioana.toader@romania-insider.com