An upward trend as regards the registration of tenancy agreements has been witnessed in the past few years. In 2018, the revenues from taxes paid based on tenancy agreements rose by 50% on a year before, Nicoleta Nemerenco, head of the General Compliance Division of the State Tax Service, stated in the talk show “Issue of the day” on Canal 2 TV channel. The functionary said about 3,400 tenancy agreements were registered during the first three months of this year alone, IPN reports.

According to Nicoleta Nemerenco, the rise is due to the fact that intense measures to inform the people about the consequences of non-registration of tenancy agreement and non-payment of the given tax were taken last year. “On the other hand, there is also the effect of penalties, especially because an amendment made to the Tax Code in 2018 provides that if the tenancy agreement is not registered with the State Tax Service, this can estimate the revenues and calculate they non-made payments,” she stated.

Denis Staruș, director of the National Center for Consumer Protection, said it isn’t socially equitable when a legal entity pays tax on tenancy, while a private individual does not. “In the Republic of Moldova, there are persons who transformed this leasing phenomenon into a business as it is more profitable to buy five apartments and lease them out to earn money than to keep the money in a bank,” he noted.

According to Denis Staruș, when a person earns revenues, this should pay taxes on these incomes. Such a tax is collected in most of the states and the rate levied in Moldova is acceptable.