Romanian Used Car Owners Have 20 Days TO Pay Tax At Old Value

The Romanian Government recently decided to enact an Emergency Ordinance regulating the situation of people who bought and brought cars to the country before December 15, but have not registered them yet, said Romanian prime minister Emil Boc.

 

Boc said people will receive a temporary pass so that they can register their cars, since it is common knowledge that they will not be able to register their cars because of the short deadline left by the Tariceanu Cabinet.

 

"The level of the tax will be decided in government, but it will be lower than the current one and will consider the needs of local industry, the interests of Romanian citizens and will be compatible with EU norms," Boc said, adding the decision will be made Wednesday.

 

The pollution tax for cars will be reduced to a level below the current one, which is three times higher than the values in July 2008. In addition, the state might return the difference to car owners who paid the tripled car tax. Later, a draft law will be promoted, instating an annual tax for all polluters, according environment minister Nicolae Nemirschi.

 

The government will adopt the changes by emergency decree in the following Cabinet meeting, environment minister Nicolae Nemirschi recently said.

 

The minister added a draft law will be promoted by this summer, instating an annual tax for all polluters.

 

"The tax will have the same principles, but it won’t be as high. That is for the short term, because we will submit to parliament a draft law instating an annual tax for all polluters. Until then, the new tax will apply. The elements to be considered in the calculation of the new tax will be carbon dioxide emissions and engine capacity. In this first stage, we’re eliminating the tripled car tax,” Nemirschi said.

 

Euro 4 vehicles will still be exempt from the tax this year.

 

The new car tax will be set after consultations with the European Commission.

 

The European Commission recently informed the Romanian government that the decree tripling the car tax, passed by the former government, breaches EU laws.

 

Romania’s former liberal government decided in April to introduce the pollution tax for cars, calculated depending on the technical data of each car, based on carbon dioxide emissions, which replaced as of July 1, 2008, the tax for the first registration of cars which was then effective.

 

Amendments to the car tax brought a fall in the number of new cars, and boosted used car imports.

 

On the backdrop of the increase in the number of imported second-hand cars, the government decided via an emergency decree in December to triple the car tax for used cars, and to suspend it for new cars with Euro4 engines of up to 2,000 cubic centimeters, registered or the first time in Romania and the European Union.

 

In January 2009, total car registrations in Romania, including new and used cars, were down 52.8% compared to January 2008, an indication that the new car market continues its abrupt decline, while registrations of imported used cars took a nosedive in January following a sharp increase of nearly six times in December 2008.