The employers in Moldova last year were fined a total of 42 million lei for using illegal labor. Of this sum over, over 15.6 million lei was paid. The data of the State Tax Service were presented within the Economic Council working under the Prime Minister in the meeting of the working group for reducing informal employment and the illegal payment of salaries, IPN reports.

According to the representative of the State Tax Service Nicoleta Nimerenco, 193 cases of use of illegal labor or illegal payment of salaries were identified in 2018. In the first nine months of the year, the employers declared a monthly salary fund of 3.9 billion lei, while in October – December the salary fund rose to 4.5 billion lei a month. This January the salary fund was 4.451 billion lei.

According to the Economic Council, the tax concessions proposed by the Government last year, such as the reduction in the rate of the social insurance contribution, led to rises in the state social insurance budget and the mandatory health insurance fund. Over the first three months of this year, the social insurance contributions increased by 6% compared with the corresponding period last year, while the mandatory health insurance premiums by 20%.

In March – September, the State Tax Service will check by 100 business entities operating in the main areas with the highest risk of use of illegal labor, such as the transport sector and the building sector.

In 2018, the Government launched the fiscal reform whose major goal was to fight the illegal payment of salaries that lead to lower pensions and lower state budget revenues collected as taxes. Following the reform, a common income tax rate of 12% was introduced for private individuals, instead of 18% and 7%, while the employers’ contribution to the state social insurance budget was decreased from 23% to 18%.