On 6 September 2024, the Romanian government adopted Emergency Ordinance no. 107/2024 (“the GEO”) regulating a nationwide tax amnesty generally aimed at cancelling late payment interest and penalties related to certain outstanding tax liabilities, as summarised below.
1. Waiver of interest, penalties and other additional charges for outstanding debts as of 31 August 2024 for all taxpayers.
The outstanding debts as of 31 August 2024 include:
- budgetary liabilities for which the due date or payment term has been met on or before 31 August 2024;
- supplementary budgetary liabilities established by tax assessment decisions communicated up to and including 31 August 2024, as well supplementary liabilities related to tax periods up to and including 31 August 2024 assessed by the tax authorities by means of a tax assessment decision issued as a result of a tax inspection and communicated on or before 6 September 2024;
- budgetary liabilities related to tax periods up to and including 31 August 2024, assessed by means of:
- a tax assessment decision issued ex officio by the tax authorities between 1 September 2024 and the date of submitting the application for amnesty, or
- rectifying and/or delayed tax returns, submitted by qualifying taxpayers between 1 September 2024 and the date of submitting the application for amnesty. Special conditions apply for taxpayers who are about to be audited;
- other liabilities reflected in enforceable titles issued according to the law and included in the tax authorities’ records (for recovery) as at 31 August 2024, as well as budgetary liabilities assessed by other public bodies related to fiscal periods up to 31 August 2024 and sent for recovery to the tax authorities between 1 September 2024 and the date of submission of the application for amnesty.
As a general rule, in order to benefit from the tax amnesty, i.e. the annulment of late payment interest and penalties, the following conditions must be met:
- the application for amnesty must be submitted prior to 25 November 2024, and
- outstanding principal tax liabilities as at 31 August 2024 as well as those tax liabilities with a payment term after 1 September 2024 must be settled by any means allowed by law by the time the application is submitted, and
- all relevant tax returns need to be filed in good order before the application for amnesty is submitted.
Taxpayers that had running tax payment schedules on 6 September 2024 , as well as those that secure tax payment schedules between 6 September 2024 and 25 November 2024, may benefit from the tax amnesty for late payment interest and penalties if the payment schedule ends by the date of the application for the amnesty, but no later than 25 November 2024.
The local public authorities are not required to implement the tax amnesty for locally managed property taxes, but they may opt to do so.
Special rues apply for those principal tax liabilities that are assessed following tax audits that are ongoing on 6 September 2024.
- Discount for the payment of certain tax liabilities
Profit taxpayers and microenterprise taxpayers may benefit from a discount of 3% of their annual profit/income tax related to fiscal year 2024/the modified fiscal year starting in 2024, as the case may be. In the case of tax groups, the discount is applied to the annual profit tax declared by the responsible legal entity.
To benefit from this discount, taxpayers need to fulfil the following conditions:
- They must have all mandatory tax returns submitted in due time;
- The annual profit/income tax, related to fiscal year 2024/the modified fiscal year starting in 2024, as the case may be, is paid in full within the applicable legal deadlines;
- They must have no other outstanding tax/budgetary liabilities by the time the annual profit/income tax return is submitted according to the law.
The discount amount is not refunded, but it is offset against the tax liabilities of qualifying taxpayers.
The discount does not apply if, at the end of fiscal year 2024/the amended fiscal year beginning in 2024, taxpayers are required to pay the domestic minimum turnover tax.
Further instructions are expected for the application of the tax amnesty program as described above.
