New Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici confirmed on Tuesday that during the Government meeting on Wednesday he will present the text of an emergency ordinance set to postpone, for the end of March, the payment of taxes in line with Fiscal Statement 600, RealitateaTV private broadcaster informs.
“During tomorrow’s Government meeting, a Government Emergency Ordinance [OUG] will be discussed, which will postpone this form for the end of March, and until then we will try to find the best solution so that this no longer happens. During this period, nobody must lodge this form anymore. (…) We are stating clearly that we will find a solution so that this form would no longer be lodged. There is no point in people wasting time to lodge such a form,” Teodorovici said.
On the other hand, one of the frequently rumoured options is the merger between Fiscal Statements 200 and 600, but “only if a better option is not found,” as the new Finance Minister put it after his confirmation hearing within the House Budge-Finance Committee on Monday.
A week ago, the Finance Ministry posted on its website the draft OUG that postpones for March 1st the deadline for the lodging of Fiscal Statement 600. The legislative act has a single article that modifies two paragraphs in the Fiscal Code.
“Single article – The deadline stipulated by Article 148 (3) and Article 170 (4) of Law no.227/2015 on the Fiscal Code, with subsequent modifications and supplementations, is prorogued until 1 March 2018,” the document reads.
On Tuesday, Teodorovici once again said he does not intend to introduce new taxes or fees, nor to hike the existing ones, especially since Romania does not necessarily have a problem with the taxation level but with the red tape that hinders tax collection.
The statements coming from the new Government have failed to put the business sector at ease, because the lack of predictability continues to be extremely present. “They announce that a measure will be introduced, then withdrawn, something we hope we will no longer see in 2018. Fiscal Statement 600 existed before, in a form addressed to a small group of persons. In our opinion, the attempt made now was a first test for a potential global taxation,” Cristian Parvan, President of the Local Investors’ Association (PIAROM), told RealitateaTV. “We want the maintenance of a minimum salary hike rhythm; we understand the motivation, but the business sector needs to clearly know when, how and by how much these salaries will rise, because tempestuous hikes will have big and unpleasant repercussions for very many companies and for the productive sector in general.”
