Meal vouchers will not be cancelled altogether, but will be subject to standard taxation, including social and health insurance contributions and income tax. This was clarified in a press statement issued by the Ministry of Finance.

The Ministry estimates there are about 30,000 employees at present who receive meal vouchers from about 620 employers. “By a simple conversion of salary cards into meal vouchers, extremely high risks exist that by 2020 an amount of 1 billion lei will be reached of income not taxed for social and mandatory insurance,” theorizes the Ministry, adding that this could undermine the sustainability of the Social Security Budget.

The Ministry further argued that the introduction of meal vouchers concomitantly with an ample tax reform last year “was an extremely risky decision for overall budget sustainability.”