Starting with April 1, 2017, the fiscal authority of Moldova will be reorganized and will work as a single legal entity called the State Tax Service. Currently, the fiscal administration system consists of the State Main Tax Inspectorate and 35 local state tax inspectorates. These are distinct legal entities with individual legal-organizational structure, which include maintenance services for each tax inspectorate, IPN reports.
State Main Tax Inspectorate chief Sergiu Puscuta told a news conference that the structure of the fiscal authority dates from 1990 and inherited particular aspects typical of the Soviet regime, including the organization according to the territorial principle. This approach does not enable the Service to properly fulfill its duties. There were cases when local tax inspectorates interpreted the fiscal legislation differently. The inspection activities not always produce the expected result owing to the lack of skilled personnel. Besides, the fiscal inspectors of local tax inspectorates know all the local taxpayers and there is a risk that unlawful relations will appear, including corruption.
“All the local subdivisions and the State Main Tax Inspectorate will be merged into a single entity and the territorial organization principle will be replaced with functional organization. The administration costs will be reduced. We will be able to join forces when actions to fight tax evasion are taken,” stated Sergiu Puscuta.
According to him, 85 administrative posts of the existing 321 ones will be removed as a result of the reorganization. The total number of employees will not be yet reduced and will remain 1,892. The personnel of the State Tax Service will be concentrated in a centralized body with the central apparatus, three fiscal administration regions (North, South and Center), the general tax administration division of Chisinau municipality and local taxpayer service offices.
“At the first stage, small fiscal offices will remain to provide services to taxpayers inside the local tax inspectorates. The taxpayers should not suffer because of the reorganization. Later, with the implementation of information technology, the necessity of these offices will disappear,” said Sergiu Puscuta.
The State Tax Service will have one director and four vice directors appointed at a contest. “Reorganization also means change of the workplace for employees. I must say that our employees expressed their dissatisfaction and opposed the changes in eight cases only. We hope we will be able to fill the 177 vacancies after April 1, especially because the salary was raised not long ago. We will focus on the prevention of the violation of the fiscal legislation and on tax evasion, while the honest taxpayer will only gain as they will be visited seldom,” stated the Inspectorate’s head.
