ROMANIA: COVID-19 VAT IMPLICATIONS

ROMANIA – Update 29^th June

Postponement of payments of fiscal obligations (including VAT) until 25th October. Extension of VAT refund with subsequent control until 25th October.

The Romanian Government extended some of the economic measures taken in the pandemic context, until 25 October 2020 (GEO 99/2020).

For all the fiscal obligations due starting from 21st March and not paid until 25th October 2020:

• There will be no late payment penalties computed.
• These will not be regarded as outstanding liabilities, thus that they cannot be subject to enforcement.

Despite the payment postponement, tax declarations must be filed until due dates.

Also, the procedure of VAT refund with subsequent control is extended until 25th October. According to the new rules, the VAT is to be refunded with no prior tax audit (under certain conditions). However, as a matter of exception, VAT is to be refunded after the tax audit is carried out for:

• taxpayers having offenses in their fiscal certificate;
• taxpayer subject to insolvency proceedings;
• the central tax authority, on the basis of the information held, finds that there is a risk of unduly reimbursement;
• small taxpayer with a first request to refund VAT;
• small taxpayer requesting VAT arising from more than 12 months.

Source Credit – VATnews

ROMANIA – Update 28^th April

No import VAT is paid to customs during the state of emergency on PPE

 Romania published Emergency Ordinance No. 48 of 9 April 2020 in the Official Gazette on 16 April 2020. The ordinance includes certain measures for COVID-10 relief, including in relation to the extension of the state of emergency by an additional 30 days to 16 May 2020. Measures include:

• Rules regarding sponsorship expenses of micro-enterprises are relaxed so that such sponsorships for supporting entities involved in combatting the COVID-19 pandemic can be deducted without the need for the beneficiary to be registered in the special registry for sponsorship beneficiaries;
• In order to support essential employees that are required to work in isolation during the state of emergency, an exemption from income tax and social security contributions is provided on benefits in kind granted by employers;
• An exemption is provided for taxpayers required to pay specific tax for certain special types of activities where the activities are suspended (partly or completely) during the state of emergency; and
• The deadline for the submission of annual financial statements for the financial year ending 31 December 2019 is extended to 31 July 2020.

The Ordinance also includes a list of goods for which no import VAT is paid to customs during the state of emergency, including COVID-19 test kits, protective clothing, disinfectants and sterilization products, medical equipment and supplies, medications, and protective mask production machines.

Source Credit – Orbitax

ROMANIA – Update 17^th April

Offices still currently open for face-to-face meetings but recommend remote interaction; the Government published measures to support the business environment including VAT credits.

Source Credit – Accordance VAT

ROMANIA – Update 25^th March

• Initially the Romanian Minister of Finance announced the deferment until the 25^th April for the submission, however a different Urgent Government Ordinance has been published
• The Romanian government maintain the deadline of submission of 25^th of March for the VAT return and the ESPL, (30^th March for the LSPL).
• The Government stated that there will be no penalties applied for late payments of amounts due from 21^st March 2020.
• The penalty exemption will be maintained from the date when the Ordinance was issued and it will end 30 days after the ending of the state of emergency.
• Submission is mandatory, however if there are issues with VAT payments, then the payments after the deadline will not be considered as a late payment

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