A bill proposing a series of immediate measure for helping small businesses will be formally introduced in Parliament next week. Until then, the bill’s sponsor MP Radu Marian is inviting suggestions from the public and stakeholders.

The bill proposes, among other things, accepting cash register receipts as evidence for requesting expenditure deduction for tax purposes. However, only 0.5% of the annual taxable income could be subtracted this way.

Marian also proposes removing the “seal hear” text from fiscal invoices and other formal tax statements. “While there’s been legislation for quite a while now which scrapped the seal requirement, affixing a seal is still required in practice. This provision should act as a reminder for all the users that a seal is not mandatory,” explains Radu Marian.

Under the bill, it will suffice for exporters of made-in-Moldova goods to file just one customs statement quarterly, provided that each individual batch of merchandise doesn’t exceed in value an average monthly salary.

Also, scanned and emailed invoices should be recognized as the real thing. According to Marian, currently the law neither forbids or accepts the practice explicitly, leaving it at the fiscal bureaucrats’ discretion.

The bill gives an advantage in public procurement to small companies paying higher-than-average salaries, thus encouraging them to honestly pay remuneration and social contributions. “For example, if a firm participating in a public procurement process reports an annual salary rise of at least 16%, it will be given priority”, says Radu Marian.

Freelancers, in particular from IT, creative or knowledge-intensive industries, will also be stimulated to declare their income.

Newly-incorporated limited liability companies (SRLs) will be required to file just one annual report. Today individual enterprises hiring no more than three employees do enjoy simplified reporting rules, however small SRLs and other small companies don’t get the same treatment.