President Klaus Iohannis on Monday promulgated a law on the Code of Fiscal Procedure, the Presidential Administration announced.
The Fiscal Procedure Code cleared the Senate on April 28 and the Chamber of Deputies on June 24, after being passed by the Government in March.
The Fiscal Procedure Code was adopted by the Lower Chamber on June 24, the date on which the Fiscal Code was also approved.
The decision was taken with 306 votes in favour, 2 against and 1 abstention.
The draft Fiscal Procedure Code law was adopted by the Senate, the first Chamber notified, on April 28, with 67 votes in favour, 17 against and 5 abstentions.
Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici stated in the Senate back then that the new Fiscal Procedure Code seeks “to simplify administrative procedures for the recovery of tax debt, the improvement of the balance between the rights and obligations of the two parties involved in the fiscal juridical relation, namely taxpayer and fiscal body, but also to clarify some of the juridical institutions susceptible to interpretation.”
Another goal consists of “ensuring the long-term stability and predictability of norms included in the draft law.”
Also considered are simplifying the procedures for fiscal debt management, “clarity and accessibility through the elimination of interpretations,” through correcting the current inconsistencies between the Fiscal Procedure Code and the Fiscal Code or other special laws.
Teodorovici pointed out that another priority consists of “rendering the taxes and fees management activity efficient.”
The Fiscal Procedure Code has been applied in Romania since 1 January 2004. Since its coming into force, the Fiscal Procedure Code has been modified 60 times. The goal was to modify the administrative procedures for the recovery of tax debt, to improve the balance between the rights and obligations of the two parties of the fiscal juridical relation (taxpayer and fiscal body).
In principle, each Fiscal Procedure Code is correlated with the Fiscal Code in force.
As a result of the fact that the President rejected the Fiscal Code, the new Fiscal Procedure Code will refer to the old Fiscal Code.
The situation created is not only paradoxical but also dysfunctional until the new Fiscal Code comes into force.
