The VAT sums refunded to the economic entities by the Fiscal Service in the first two months of this year totaled 255 million lei, as against 210 million lei in January-February 2007. Over 20,000 VAT paying economic entities are now registered at the State Main Fiscal Inspectorate (internally, not including the Customs Service’s data). As the head of the State Main Fiscal Inspectorate Sergiu Puscuta said, until 2007, the economic entities that pay VAT had to be obligatorily registered if their sales come to 200,000 lei during 12 consecutive months. With the intention of developing the small business, the Parliament last year amended the third Title of the Fiscal Code. Under the amendments, the registration of economic entities as VAT payers can be compulsory or optional. The amendments set sales ceilings that are taken into account when registering the economic entities. The economic entities must be obligatorily registered when their sales add up to 300,000 lei over 12 consecutive months. The optional registration, on the entrepreneur’s initiative, is done when the sales total 100,000 lei during 12 consecutive months. The business entities that will make investments in the country’s settlements, except the municipalities of Balti and Chisinau, after January 1, 2008 can register as VAT payers. They will be refunded the VAT amount related to these investments in the same way as other VAT payers (within 45 days of the submission of the application for refunding). To be registered as VAT payer, economic entities’ investments in towns and district centers must be 100,000 lei, while in villages – from 1 leu. A sum of 3.91 billion lei in VAT is planned to be collected into the state budget in 2008, as opposed to 2.59 billion lei in 2007. The incomes from VAT and other indirect taxes are projected to make up 58% of the state budget revenues in 2008.