Publicat pe 03/12/2014

The Ministry for Public Finances has posted on its website, for public consultation, the draft bill for the new Fiscal Code and the new Fiscal Procedure Code.

Rewriting the two projects is part of the complex modernizing process of the fiscal legislation, included within the Fiscal-budgetary strategy 2013-2015 and the Legislative Program of the Government of Romania 2013-2016.

The modernization of the fiscal legislation, an extensive process which is drafted by several working groups, coordinated by the Ministry for Public Finances, intends to achieve the following results:
– clarity and accessibility in the application of the Fiscal Code provisions, by restructuring the tax rules, on a systematic basis, as well as those regarding the fiscal procedure;
– transparency within the fiscal principles presentation, when defining concepts, notions and methods used in the construction and coherent administration of taxes and social contributions, regulated within the Fiscal Code, in order to have a fair understanding and to avoid interpretations when applying tax rules;
– an improved balance between the rights and obligations of taxpayers and tax authorities;
– an increased efficiency of the administration of taxes and social contributions stipulated in the Fiscal Code;
– lower costs for the tax administration stipulated by the Fiscal and for the compliance taxes paid by the taxpayers;
– ensuring the correlation between the provisions of the new Fiscal Code and the dispositions of the new Fiscal Procedure Code, as well as correlating the related legislation;
– simplification of the administration procedures for tax receivables.

Rewriting the Fiscal Code and the Fiscal Procedure Code mainly involves redrafting the actual provisions in order to acquire a better understanding, to eliminate malfunctions and possible fragmented interpretations, and relocating the articles and titles provision in order to better respond to the business environment and tax authorities’ demands.

Also, by rewriting the Fiscal Code and the Fiscal Procedure Code, it is pursued a flexible approach of the tax legislation by the taxpayers and a coherent administration of the tax system, which consists of incomes of the general consolidated budget.

“Through the projects we put up today for public consultation, we create the prerequisites to ensure the tax system’s predictability and to enhance the sustainable fiscal consolidation. Thus, we respond to an older expectation of the business environment, through clearer and better structured tax legislation, which comprises the necessary explanations and correlates the fiscal changes operated in the last 10 years in a more integrated form”, has said Ioana-Maria Petrescu, Minister for Public Finances.

The draft bill of the Fiscal Code has been developed taking into account the numerous modifications and changes made to the Act since its enforcement in December 2003, due to the economic and social evolution, the context of the international economic and financial crisis, Romania’s accession to the European Union etc.

The draft bill of the Fiscal Code, displayed for public consultation today, is the result of several working meetings and, among the included changes, there is a series of provision adopted by the Government either through Emergency Ordinances or draft bills submitted to the Parliament. Depending on the result of the parliamentary debates regarding these normative acts, the bill will be amended correspondingly.

The structure of the new Fiscal Procedure Code has mostly been maintained given the fact that both taxpayers and tax authorities within ANAF and territorial-administrative authorities are aware of the actual structure, and this fact facilitates the understanding and enforcement of the new bill.

The new Fiscal Procedure Code’s structure has been improved towards the consolidation of certain titles/chapters and the insertion of others. We refer to one of the new elements of this project – Title VI, Tax control, which includes provisions regarding the control rules for taxes, structured in six chapters, out of which five are destined to each type of control, depending of the objectives. This title also includes the actual provisions regarding the anti-fraud control.

The Fiscal Code and Fiscal Procedure Code drafts are open to debates, in the following months being subject to an extensive public consultation with representatives of the business environment, associative structures, social partners and all stakeholders.