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Tax and business updates published on March 30th

 

 

Article written by Florin Gherghel, Tax Manager Ensight Finance

You may find below the most important provisions of two ordinances published on March 30th in the Official Gazette regarding, amongst others, the payment of unemployment allowances and bonuses for paying in due time of corporate income tax and micro-enterprise tax.

 

Emergency Ordinance no. 32 / 2020 was published in Official Gazette 260 as of 30 March 2020 regarding amendment of Emergency Ordinance OUG 30/2020 concerning some economic and fiscal measures

The main amendments are:

  • The unemployment allowance of 75% of the salary, but not more than 75% of the gross medium salary at national level, is maintained during the temporary suspension of the individual employment agreements through the initiative of the employer due to coronavirus effects. The facility is supported by the unemployment insurance budget.
  • The employees of the employers who, during the state of emergency, reduce / interrupt temporarily the activity, totally or partially, due to the coronavirus effects, are eligible to the unemployment allowance, based on a declaration on the employer’s own responsibility.
  • Thus, the obligation to hold the certificate of emergency situations was eliminated, as well as the restrictions for companies that do not have the means to pay the salaries of employees (including the payment of allowances for up to 75% of employees and the reduction of cash receipts by at least 25%).
  • If an employee has several individual employment agreements, one of which being full-time contract active during the state of emergency, does not benefit from the above allowance.
  • If the employer can pay, the above allowance may be supplemented by the employer with amounts representing the difference up to at least 75% of the salary of the employee.
  • The above period, in which the individual employment agreements of the employees are suspended and the employers do not owe the work insurance contribution, constitute a contribution period without payment of the contribution for the social health insurance system.
  • In order to receive the necessary amounts for the payment of the above allowances, the employers submit, by e-mail, to the unemployment agencies, to which they are registered, a signed / dated request. The request must be signed and assumed by the legal representative of the employers and the employer must submit as well a declaration on their own responsibility and the list of persons who will benefit from this allowance. The models will be approved by the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection.
  • These documents are submitted in the current month for the payment of the previous month’s allowance.
  • The payment of the above allowances is made within maximum 15 days from the submission of the above documents and the payment of the allowance is made to the employee in maximum 3 working days from the receipt of the amounts by the employer.

 

Emergency Ordinance no. 33 / 2020 was published in Official Gazette 260 as of 30 March 2020 regarding some fiscal measures

The main measures are:

  • The entities paying corporate income tax, regardless of the way of declaration and payment, are entitled to a discount bonus for the payment in due time of the corporate income tax due for the first quarter of 2020, namely until the deadline of April 25, 2020. The bonus is computed on the due corporate income tax, as follows:
  1. 5% for large taxpayers;
  2. 10% for medium taxpayers;
  3. 10% for other taxpayers who are not medium and large taxpayers.
  • The companies with an accounting / fiscal year different from the calendar year are entitled to the discount bonus if they pay the quarterly corporate income tax in due time between April 25 – June 25, 2020 (when the respective corporate income tax is due).
  • The companies paying specific tax for certain activities (HoReCa) also benefit from the discount bonus for the corporate income tax due for the first quarter of 2020, computed for the carried activities, other than those corresponding to NACE codes provided by law.
  • Similarly, micro-enterprises benefit from a 10% discount bonus for the payment until April 25th 2020 inclusive of the micro-enterprise tax due for the first quarter of 2020 (the bonus is computed for the due micro-enterprise tax).
  • The bonus is deducted from the due tax the for the above cases.
  • Corporate income taxpayers insert the bonus separately in the annual corporate income tax return.
  • No VAT is effectively paid in customs by entities registered for VAT purposes for specific imports from outside EU during the period of state of emergency and in the next 30 calendar days from the closing date of the state of emergency. The VAT exempt imports are of medicines, protection equipment, other medical devices / equipment, sanitary materials that can be used for the fight against COVID-19 pandemic (the exact list of goods is provided in the annex to the emergency ordinance)
  • The customs authorities do not request the payment of VAT for the above imports and the VAT is mentioned in the VAT returns both as collected and deductible VAT.

 

Emergency Ordinance no. 35 / 2020 was published in Official Gazette 260 as of 30 March 2020 regarding postponement of validity of holiday vouchers

 

Emergency Ordinance no. 37 / 2020 was published in Official Gazette 261 as of 30 March 2020 regarding facilities for loans granted by credit institutions and non-bank financial institutions to certain categories of borrowers

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