New fiscal measures: Government Ordinance no. 11/2022

The takeaway 

Government Ordinance no. 11/2022 (GO no. 11/2022) introduced a series of amendments and completions to the Fiscal Code and the Fiscal Procedure Code.

In detail

Fiscal Code

• To align the Fiscal Code with the provisions of Law 322/2021 regarding the ability to carry over unused amounts of sponsorship, patronage or private scholarships for a period of seven years. According to Law 322/2021, such amounts registered as of 1 January 2022, or as of the start date of the fiscal year 2022–2023 for legal entities applying a non-calendar tax year, cannot be carried forward. The last unused amounts allowed to be carried forward (until 2028) are those registered by 31 December 2021.

• For taxpayers performing transfers of assets, tax residence and/or economic activity carried out through a permanent establishment for which Romania loses the right of taxation (“exit tax”), the following provisions have been introduced:

• Exit tax is calculated, declared and paid quarterly, by the twenty-fifth of the month following the end of the quarter for which the tax is calculated, into a separate budget revenue account.

• The obligation to file an annual income tax return (D101) has been rescinded.

• For tax groups, if at least one member applies the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 153/2020 provisions on the establishment of fiscal measures to stimulate the maintenance/increase of equity, the responsible legal entity is required to submit the consolidated annual return by 25 June of the following year or the twenty-fifth day of the sixth month in an amended tax year.

• Notaries public have to complete the informative declaration regarding transfers of real estate with a transaction value of below RON 450,000.

• Payers of specific taxes will be exempted from paying those taxes in 2022 for a period of 180 days as of 3 February 2022. The specific tax due for 2022 will be recalculated by dividing the annual specific tax by 365 then multiplying the resulting value by 185.

• Economic operators that deliver goods or provide services through vending machines have to equip those machines with electronic fiscal cash registers by 31 December 2022.

• Specialist structures within the newly established Romanian Customs Authority (AVR) will take over the responsibility for issuing authorisations for fiscal warehouses, registered consignees, registered consignors and authorised importers as of the forty-fifth day after the publication of Ordinance no. 11/2022 in the Official Gazette. The specialist structures’ competences, procedures and conditions for issuing such authorisations will be established by order of the Minister of Finance based on a proposal submitted by the AVR president.

• It should be noted that authorisation applications made by the abovementioned entities until the date of entry into force of Ordinance no. 11/2022 will be resolved by the Regional General Directorates of Public Finance or the General Directorate for the Administration of Large Taxpayers under the procedures currently in force.

• Fines ranging from RON 20,000 to RON 100,000 will be applied for cases of non-compliance with the obligation to register with the competent authority before carrying out the activity by authorised economic operators in the field of electricity. The measure will enter into force 30 days after the date of publication of Ordinance no. 11/2022.

Fiscal Procedure Code

• The Ministry of Finance has taken over from ANAF the responsibility for resolving requests for anticipated individual tax solutions. A Minister of Finance order will establish the procedures for requesting and issuing anticipated individual tax solutions. The time frame for resolving such requests has been extended to six months. ANAF retains responsibility for resolving requests for advance pricing agreements. 

• Taxpayers facilitating online business transactions are to be required to report regularly, through a declaration on own responsibility, to the central tax authority with information on the activity carried out. An order of the ANAF president will establish the nature of the information required in those reports. 

• Economic entities registered in the trade register and with entries stating the status of temporary inactivity do not have to submit tax returns for the period of inactivity as of the first day of the month following that status being registered. Entities not registered in the trade register are not required to file tax returns to the bodies that authorised the suspension during the period of suspension of activity, as of the first day of the month following that in which the suspension of activity entry is added to register. 

• The obligation to file tax returns recommences on the date of resumption of the activity or on the expiry of a period of three years as of the date of registration of the statement of temporary inactivity or of the statement of suspension of activity.

• For receivables administered by the central fiscal body, the ANAF president may grant the competence to carry out fiscal inspections or personal verification to fiscal bodies than those covering the taxpayer’s tax domicile.

• Dividend payers have the right to submit to the competent tax authority a statement of regularisation / request for refund after the approval of the annual financial statements in the case of interim dividends distributed and unpaid within the limitation period of the right to request refund.

• Debtors undergoing insolvency proceedings can submit applications for payment rescheduling if those proceedings have been finalised by the date that the decision to approve the rescheduling is issued. 

[Source: Government Ordinance no. 11/2022 for the modification and completion of some normative acts, and the modification of some terms, as published in the Official Gazette no. 97 dated 31 January 2022]