Visa Europe: Romanians' tax payments by card, up by a third in 2013

The total value of local taxes Romanians paid by card increased by 36 percent in 2013, to RON 133 million (some EUR 30 million), mainly supported by the increase in POS transactions, according to data reported by banks in Romania, member of Visa Europe. Romanians also used cards more often to pay their taxes and made over 372,000 electronic payments in 2013, up 31 percent year-on-year. The average value of a tax paid by card also increased slightly to RON 358 (EUR 81). “We noticed that in the past year more municipalities started to move towards accepting online payments on ghiseul.ro, the platform available to them for free, and to give up their own platforms. The number of municipalities that accept card payments through ghiseul.ro increased by 70 percent last year, to 73 municipalities, while 30 other city halls were in the process of enrolling on the platform at the end of 2013,” said Catalin Cretu, regional manager for Romania and Croatia, Visa Europe. At the end of 2013, a total of 96 municipalities in Romania accepted online payments of local taxes. Also, the payment of taxes by card using the POS at the headquarters of fiscal administrations was accepted by over 170 municipalities, according to the data provided by Visa Europe. This year, between January 15 and March 31, Visa Europe and member banks in Romania are running the fifth annual campaign to promote the use of cards when paying local taxes. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com