Content:
• Law No. 296/2020
Law No. 296/2020
Law no. 296 published in the Official Gazette Part I no. 1269 of December 21, 2020, amending Law no. 227/2015 regarding the Fiscal Code, brings the following clarifications:
Comment: This law brings a series of amendments and additions to the Fiscal Code, including:
- New definitions are introduced for certain terms.
- The residence of the foreign legal entity in Romania and its establishment by the competent tax authorities is discussed.
- Rules of taxation destined for income from salaries apply also to amounts representing salaries/balances, differences from salaries/balances, interest granted in connection with them, as well as their updating with the inflation index, established on the basis of final and irrevocable/final and enforceable court rulings, including the decisions of the Court of First Instance, enforceable by law.
- Article 76 (4) (a) — Non-taxable income — is amended with the following content:
”(a) Funeral benefits, benefits for serious and incurable diseases, for medical devices, for birth/adoption, for losses incurred in private households as a result of natural disasters, income representing gifts in cash and/or in kind, including gift vouchers offered to employees, as well as those offered for their minor children, the transport costs to and from work, the value of tourist and/or treatment services, including transport, during the holiday period, for the employees and their family members, granted by the employers for their employees or other persons, as provided for in the employment contract. In the case of gifts in cash and/or in kind, including gift vouchers offered by employers, the income is exempt of tax, provided their value for each person, and for the following types, does not exceed RON 150:
(i) gifts offered to employees, as well as those offered to their minor children, for Easter, Christmas and similar holidays of other religious cults.
(ii) gifts given to employees on the 8th of March.
(iii) gifts offered to employees for the benefit of their minor children on the 1st of June. The value of tourist and/or treatment services, including transport, during the holiday period, for the employees and their family members, granted by the employers, as provided for in the employment contract, are non-taxable, insofar as their total value does not exceed in a fiscal year the level of the average gross salary used for the state social insurance budget for the year in which they were granted.
The type of income mentioned above is regarded as non-salary income and non-taxable also if it is earned by natural persons, if the income in question is received under special laws and financed from the budget, except for tourist services and holiday allowances granted according to the law.”
- In Article 76, paragraph (4), after letter v) — Non-taxable income – two new letters, letters w) and y) are inserted, with the following content:
”w) the amounts granted to teleworkers for the payment of the utilities bills from the place where they carry out their activity, as well as for electricity, heating, water and data subscription, and the purchase of furniture and office equipment, within the limits established by the employer through the employment contract or internal regulation, within the limit of a monthly ceiling of RON 400 corresponding to the number of teleworked days in a month. The amounts shall be granted without the need to submit the supporting documents.
y) covering the costs incurred with the epidemiological testing and/or vaccination of employees to prevent the spread of diseases that endanger the health of employees and public health.” - The expenses incurred by the employer for telework, under the law, are deductible expenses for the fiscal year calculations.
- In Article 78, after paragraph 2, a new paragraph (21) is inserted, which provides that in the case of benefits in cash and/or in kind received from third parties based on the individual employment contract, a work relationship, a posting, or a special status provided by law or on a contractual relationship between the parties, as the case may be, the obligation to calculate, withhold, pay and declare income tax resides with:
a) the employer-Romanian fiscal resident, when the benefits in cash and/or in kind are granted by entities other than the employer and the payment is made through the employer.
b) the income taxpayers-Romanian tax residents, when the benefits in cash and/or in kind are granted by entities other than the employer, except for taxpayers who obtain, income from salaries or similar from employment contracts signed with third parties which are not Romanian tax residents, for which apply the provisions of Article 82.
- In the case of income representing salaries/balances, differences in salaries/balances, interest granted in connection with them, as well as their updating with the inflation index, established on the basis of final and irrevocable/final and enforceable court rulings, including the decisions of the Court of First Instance, enforceable by law, the tax shall be calculated and withheld on the date of payment, in accordance with the legal regulations in force at the date of payment for the income gained outside the basic function, and shall be paid until the 25th of following month after their payment.
- A new chapter is introduced, namely Chapter IV^1 Rules on fiscal consolidation in the field of corporate tax.
- A new article is introduced, namely Art. 68^2 – Prepayment of tax for certain income gained from independent activities.