The revenues obtained by civil society organizations through the percentage designation mechanism, known as the 2% Law, amounted in 2022 to over 480,000 euros. It is the highest annual amount allocated, but the mechanism is far from fulfilling its full potential, especially when it comes to civil society at the local level. Practically only 5-6% of taxpayers know about the existence of this mechanism. The findings were presented at an event where the Legal Resources Center of Moldova, with the support of the European Union, launched a campaign to popularize the mechanism among taxpayers and civil society.

EU Ambassador to Moldova Jānis Mažeiks expressed his hope that the campaign will have a positive impact and the amount allocated through this mechanism will continue to increase. The European diplomat noted that the launch of the campaign does not mean that the EU Delegation to Moldova intends to limit its direct support to civil society organizations. “We intend to expand assistance to civil society. And I want to assure you of our continued support. In the next period we will launch three calls for proposals under the support instrument for civil society organizations”, said Jānis Mažeiks.

Ilie Chirtoacă, president of the Legal Resources Center of Moldova, mentioned that the 2% Law is a legal mechanism that allows part of the taxes that citizens pay to the state to be directed to a social cause, to increase the sustainability of non-commercial organizations in Moldova. According to him, there is a lot of potential in this mechanism and practically only 5-6% of taxpayers know about it. The potential can be increased through an information campaign. It must be explained that the percentage designation mechanism does not cost the citizen anything extra, it’s just that 2% of the money paid by the taxpayer to the state goes to a noble cause.

Ilie Chirtoacă added that explanatory video materials have been prepared that guide step by step how the percentage designation could be achieved: what are the conditions, how can the tax code of the organization that the citizen wants to support be found, how much constitute those 2%. Ilie Chirtoacă encouraged citizens to visit the 2procente.info website to find out about the entire process.

Within the same campaign, the potential beneficiary organizations of the percentage designation mechanism will be informed about the deadlines for submitting the declaration, what the steps are, how a successful information campaign must be carried out so that citizens are convinced to designate the 2%. 

From next year, the percentage designation will take place exclusively electronically, and people must also be prepared for this method, stated Ilie Chirtoacă.

According to the Law on public associations, the so-called 2% Law, natural persons can direct to a non-governmental organization or a religious denomination 2% of the income tax paid to the state. The mechanism was introduced in 2017.