The burden on businesses could be eased by approximately half a billion lei annually under a set of measures announced in a joint a press conference by Deputy Prime Minister Dumitru Alaiba and Minister of Finance Veronica Sirețeanu.
The package provides for the cancellation of the state registry of cash registers and tax control printers (MCC/IF Registry). This measure will apply to those who will integrate their cash registers into the Electronic Sales Monitoring System, which is already operational and to which about 20 thousand out of 60 thousand cash registers are connected.
The procedure for VAT exemption on imports is revised. Returns from abroad will no longer be treated as imports and thus no VAT will be imposed, reducing costs for businesses engaged in e-commerce. Entrepreneurs will be able to trade online outside the country easier and cheaper. The amount considered debt for tax purposes is increased from 100 to 500 lei. This measure aims to reduce the number of cases where penalties are imposed for minor violations.
The Customs Service will digitize the declaration of goods brought in and out of the country by means of international postal items or unaccompanied baggage. The technical solution has already been developed and will be put into operation soon. This measure will bring benefits to citizens and economic agents by reducing administrative costs, reducing the processing time of import-export operations through postal parcels, and simplifying customs procedures for such goods. In 2022, about 7 thousand people presented customs declarations of this kind. In total, more than 25 thousand declarations were submitted.
It will be allowed to include petroleum products and LPG in the list of products admitted for the customs warehouse regime, in order to facilitate the operation of petroleum bases and gas terminals as transit centers for import-export, storage, loading and unloading operations.
In the field of state control of entrepreneurial activity, the minimum value of the tax or customs obligation that can be contested in the dispute settlement council within the Fiscal Service and the Customs Service will be halved: from 500 thousand lei to 250 thousand lei for economic agents and from 250 thousand to 125 thousand lei for individuals. At the same time, it is proposed that the majority in the councils be represented by business associations. In 2022, there were only two Disputes Board appeals. On the other hand, there are about 700 pending cases in courts against the Fiscal Service alone.
The legislative amendments were developed by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economic Development and Digitalization in collaboration with the Economic Council under the Prime Minister and with the support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and GIZ. The package will be submitted to Parliament for consideration after the summer recess.
