We present a summary of the most significant recent amendments to tax and related legislation  introduced by Law no. 126/2024, GEO 43/2024 and GEO 31/2024.  

Law no. 126/2024 regarding some measures to strengthen the capacity to combat tax evasion, as well as to amend supplement some normative acts.

(Official Gazette no. 437 of 13.05.2024)  

Amendments to Law no. 241/2005 for preventing and combating tax evasion:  

• Electronic invoices issued, sent and received, according to the law, using the national electronic  invoicing systern RO e-invoice are considered legal documents;  
• The following are considered tax evasion crimes punishable by imprisonment from 3 to 10 years:  
  • the use by the taxpayer, in bad faith, of the national electronic invoice system RO e-Invoice,  in order to create the appearance of legality of fictitious transactions or to disguise the real  transactional circuit of goods/services;  
  • the use of fiscal electronic cash registers that are not connected to the national system for  the supervision and monitoring of fiscal data, according to the law, or alteration of fiscal  electronic cash registers to avoid the transmission of fiscal data or to transmit false fiscal  data;  
• New offences are introduced that fall within the scope of tax evasion: failure to withhold taxes  and/or contributions provided in the Annex to Law 241/2005 (e.g. income tax from salaries and  assimilated, income tax on intellectual property rights, social security contributions, etc.) is  punishable by imprisonment from 1 to 5 years or with fine;  
• Offences related to VAT information committed within fraudulent schemes that have the effect  to reduce the state budget by at least 1 million euro, punishable by imprisonment from 7 to 15  years are introduced;  
• The lending operation carried out directly or indirectly by any individual for the purpose of making  payments resulting from the omission from the accounting records and/or the income from one  or more taxpayers constitutes an offence punishable by imprisonment for a term of 3 to 10 years  ora fine  
• Special situations are introduced where the offence is not punishable and prosecution does not  start for damages whose value does not exceed the RON equivalent of EUR 1 million (e.g.: full  coverage by actual payment of the damage plus an additional amount between 25% and 100% of  its value, as well as ancillary tax obligations, within a certain period).  

GEO no. 43/2024 on the amendment and supplementation of various normative acts  

(Official Gazette no. 409 of 30.04.2024)  

GEO no. 43/2024 introduces amendments to the following normative acts on the tax field  

GEO no. 41/2022 on the establishment of the RO e-Transport national system for monitoring the  road transport of goods:  

• The complementary sanction of confiscation the goods not declared in the RO e-transport system  (for the transportation of goods with a high fiscal risk, as well as for international transportation of goods) will no longer apply in the case of findings from checks conducted after the completion  of the transportation of goods by road, when they have been recorded in the supporting  documents underlying the accounting records, as well as in the users accounts, where applicable,  during the period to which the respective operations refer;  
• Four new categories of users will also have reporting obligations under the RO e-Transport  System and also certain categories of goods are exempted from this obligation (such as goods  destined for diplomatic missions, consular offices, international organizations, NATO, and EU  member state armed forces).  

Law no. 227/2015 (the Fiscal Code)  

• Corporate income tax – a new category of non-taxable income is introduced for the computation  of the tax result: income derived from the reversal of the adjustment of receivables resulting  from operations related to subscribed and unpaid share capital, booked as financial assets;  Excise duties and other special taxes – starting 1* of June 2024, a new category of products for  which non-harmonised excise duties are due is introduced, namely nicotine products not  containing tobacco, intended for oral consumption, presented in the form of powder, particles, or  any combination thereof, marketed in portions packed in sachets;  
• Special tax on high value immovable and movable property – the local Tax Authorities are  required to send a notice to the taxpayers liable to pay building tax who have in ownership/  common ownership residential buildings located in Romania whose taxable value exceeds RON  2,500,000 by 30 May of the year for which the special tax on immovable and movable property of high value is due. Also, the deadline for computing, submitting and paying this tax is modified, i.e.  until 30 September of the year for which the tax is due (previously the deadline was 30 April).  

GEO no. 31/2024 regarding the regulation of certain fiscal-budgetary measures and for the  amending and completion of certain normative acts  

(Official Gazette no. 274 of 29.03.2024)  

GEO no. 31/2024 brings amendments and additions to the Fiscal Code, as follows:  

• Clarification of the phrase “related companies” from a microenterprise income tax perspective  relevant for the determination of the income threshold, as follows:  
  • the reference to the definition of related companies according to the provision of Law 346/2004 on stimulating the establishment and development of small and medium-sized enterprises is eliminated; 
  • clarifications are provided regarding the situations in which a Romanian legal entity is linked to another person and which are included in the computation of the 500.000 EUR threshold for the application of the microenterprises income tax. For example, a Romanian legal person that fulfils the condition owns in another Romanian legal entity, directly and/or indirectly, more than 25% of the value/number of the shares or voting rights, or has the right to appoint or revoke the administrator/majority of the members of the administrative, management or supervisory board of that other legal person.

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For additional details regarding the above, you can contact any member of the Taxhouse team or you can send us an e-mail at office@taxhouse.ro.