Romania Has 540 Additional Taxes – SMEs

"The creation of an inventory is one step forward. But this inventory needs to be developed in quality as well as quantity. Two years ago, together with the Government, we evaluated the status of these taxes and identified some 540. Thus, the inventory created by the Ministry of Economy and Finance is not complete," said the president of the National Council for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Romania, Ovidiu Nicolescu.

In addition, he said the Ministry did not include in the Registry of additional taxes several institutions that collect such taxes.

"For example, taxes collected by private institutions, such as notaries public and local public authorities are not included. These institutions are not even mentioned," Nicolescu added.

Nicolescu added the Registry’s content needs to be improved, through the introduction of elements regarding the manner of calculation for the taxes, the manner of collection and the payment deadlines.

"The Registry is incomplete. After completion, each taxe must be checked for adequacy and those that are not necessary need to be eliminated. In my opinion, one third of these taxes can be eliminated as they are not justified," Nicolescu said.

In this respect, the representatives of the SME Council developed a series of propositions for the improvement of the Registry.

Propositions include the amendment of the Registry with the normative acts applicable for each tax, with details on the destination of the tax, on the quantum and manner of payment, the payment deadline, and the identification data for each institution responsible in the area.

Economy and finance minister Varujan Vosganian announced last week that Romanian authorities in the public central administration are cashing 115 additional taxes, which include several sub-categories depending on the services provided.

Only the 115 taxes levied by the public central administration have been centralized so far, while local administrations, as well as those subordinated to the parliament, are to provide the information needed to complete the chart.