Cancellation of penalties will be applied to physical persons who owe money to the state too.
The manner in which the auto tax is applied could be changed in Parliament, Finance Minister Gheorghe Ialomitianu stated yesterday, HotNews.ro informs. He added that taxpayers with up to three employees and a turnover lower than EUR 100,000, NGOs and owners’ associations will file the 112 statement each quarter starting on October 1. “For example, if a company is seasonal and has 2-4 employees during the active months then an average will be made at the end of the year. If its total number of employees divided by 12 months falls below 3, let’s say 2.99, then the company can benefit from this provision,” Dan Lazar, secretary of state within the Finance Ministry, stated for realitatea.net.
On the other hand, the cancellation of fiscal penalties will be applied to physical persons that owe money to the state too, provided the back payments are paid by the end of the year, the Finance Minister stated yesterday. “Until now the payment obligations were extinguished depending on their age, simultaneously with the hikes and penalties. Now the obligations will be extinguished first, then the hikes and penalties. Our purpose is not to maximize our revenues from hikes and penalties,” the Minister added.
On Wednesday the government approved new fiscal regulations that will cancel the penalties for companies that will pay their debts until December 31. Likewise, the penalties for taxpayers who will pay their debts in Q1 of 2012 will be lowered by half. Ialomitianu pointed out that the physical persons whose debts are in the form of taxes on houses, plots of land or rental contracts will benefit from these provisions too.
Concerning the new fiscal strategy, Ialomitianu pointed out that it consists of two main measures and lowering the number of employees is not one of them. “The first measure consists of control over employments, by maintaining the 1:7 ratio, so that a drop in personnel will take place automatically. Another measure consists of placing an upper threshold on expenditures.” Asked about the perspective of bringing public sector employees’ salaries back to their pre-austerity levels, he stated that the outlook is good however a decision will be taken when next year’s budget is decided.
Scheduled IMF, EC talks
The Finance Ministry representatives will meet IMF and European Commission (EC) representatives at the end of September in order to establish whether the economic growth forecast for this year (1.5 per cent) will be maintained, Minister Gheorghe Ialomitianu stated yesterday. The GDP grew by 0.2 per cent in Q2 compared to Q1. The economy registered year-on-year growths of 0.3 per cent in Q2 and in H1.
Owners of several houses and cars to pay extra tax in 2012
Premier Emil Boc announced on Wednesday that the government has decided to maintain the extra tax for persons that own several houses or cars in 2012 too. The law adopted in Parliament had established that this measure would remain in force only in 2011.
On the other hand, taxpayers that do not reevaluate the buildings they own, maintaining them at values that do not reflect their real price in an attempt to pay smaller taxes, will be sanctioned, Finance Minister Gheorghe Ialomitianu stated yesterday, Mediafax informs. He added that in the tourism sector the companies that own lodging units but do not use them will be taxed an extra 5 per cent, while the owners of lodging units that function for more than six months per year will pay only half the tax owed.
