LEGISLATIVE NEWSLETTER

Content:

• Law no. 160/2017
• Emergency Ordinance no. 46/2017
• Order no. 925/2017
• Law no. 164/2017
• Order no. 983/2017
• Order 1964/2017
• Law no. 172/2017

Law no. 160/2017

Law no. 160 of June 30, 2017, published in the Official Gazette Part I no. 504 of June 30, 2017, supplementing Law no. 263/2010 on the unitary pension system, brings the following clarifications:

Comment: The present law supplements Law 263/2010 by introducing a new paragraph, paragraph 7, at Article 102 with the following text:

„  (7)  The  yearly  increases  of  the  pension  point  value  provided  for  in  paragraph  (2),  (5) and

(6) represent the minimum thresholds. Higher pension point values can be set through the annual law of the state social insurance budget, while observing the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Law no. 69/2010, republished, and in line with the corresponding fiscal and budgetary strategy”

Clarifications are brought also on establishing the correction index. For 2017 this is 1.14.

Emergency Ordinance no. 46/2017

Emergency Ordinance no. 46 of June 30, 2017, published in the Official Gazette Part I no. 506 of June 30, 2017, amending and supplementing the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 8/2009 on the granting of holiday vouchers brings the following clarifications:

“Paragraphs (2), (24) and (4) of Article 1 shall be amended and shall have the following content:

(2) The public institutions and authorities, as defined in Art. 2 par. (1) section 30 of the Law no. 500/2002 on public finances, as further amended and supplemented, and at Art. 2 par.   (1) section

39 of the Law no. 273/2006 on local public finances, as further amended and supplemented, regardless of the financing and subordination system, including the activities financed entirely from own revenues, established by the public institutions, as well as the economic operators, as defined bythe Government Ordinance no. 26/2013 regarding the strengthening of the financial discipline at the level of some economic operators where the state or the administrative-territorial units are unique or majority shareholders or hold directly or indirectly a majority participation, approved with additions byLaw no. 47/2014, as further amended and supplemented, shall grant, within the  limits of the budgets allocated for this purpose, between July 1, 2017 and November 30, 2018, a single holiday allowance or a single holiday bonus, as the case may be, in the form of vouchers, in the amount of 1,450 lei per employee.

(24) Within the limits of the budgetary resources, the employer establishes, under the provisions of par. (2), when they shall grant said holiday vouchers, in agreement with legally constituted trade union organizations or with the employees’ representatives, as the case may be.
 

(4)    The maximum level of the amounts that may be granted to employees in the form of holiday vouchers by other employers than those provided in paragraph (2) is the equivalent of a maximum of six basic minimum gross salaries per country, guaranteed for payment, for an employee over a fiscal year. The minimum gross salary per country, guaranteed for payment, is the one established under the law.”

Paragraph (3) of Article 3 is hereby repealed; therefore the amounts corresponding to holiday vouchers granted by the employer shall NO LONGER be deductible when calculating the corporate income tax.

Paragraph (5) of Article 3 shall be amended and shall have the following content:

“(5) The nominal values allowed for printed holiday vouchers are a multiple of 50 lei, up to 100 lei, the maximum nominal value per voucher”

Furthermore, this Emergency Ordinance also amends the applicable penalties, the penalties being expressed in penalty-points, the value of a penalty-point is one minimum basic gross salary per country guaranteed for payment.
 

Order no. 925/2017

Order no. 925 of June 23, 2017, published in the Official Gazette Part I no. 519 of July 4, 2017, of the Minister of Public Finance regarding the approval of the Nomenclature of Independent Activities for which the net income can be determined on the basis of the standard annual income, for those taxpayers who gain revenues from manufacturing, trade, service supply activities.

Law no. 164/2017

Law no. 164 of July 10, 2017, published in the Official Gazette Part I no. 544 of July 11, 2017, amending Law no. 279/2005 on apprenticeship at work and Law no. 335/2013 regarding the internship for higher education graduates, brings the following clarifications:

Comment: As far as apprenticeship at work is concerned, this law stipulates that this shall be organized for qualification levels 2,3 and 4 established in accordance with GD no. 918/2013 on the approval of the National Qualifications Framework, prior to this change being organized for qualification levels 1, 2 and 3. Therefore, Article 9 (1), letters a) – c) regarding the duration of the apprenticeship contract shall have the following content:

a)       “12 months if the apprenticeship at work  is organized to acquire skills corresponding to      a level 2 qualification”

b)       “24 months if the apprenticeship at work  is organized to acquire skills corresponding to      a level 3 qualification”

c)       “36 months if the apprenticeship at work  is organized to acquire skills corresponding to      a level 4 qualification”

Article 16, paragraph (2) shall have the following content:

“The employer who concludes an apprenticeship contract, under the present law, benefits, on request, during the entire period of the apprenticeship contract, of an amount of 1125 lei / month, granted from the unemployment insurance budget within the limits of the allocated funds for this purpose.”

Another amendment brought by this law refers to the amount that the employer receives, on request, when an internship contract is signed, ie 1350 lei / month, which is granted from the unemployment insurance budget for the entire duration of the internship contract.
 

Order no. 983/2017

Order no. 983 from July 7, 2017, published in the Official Gazette Part I no. 545 of July 11, 2017, amending the Methodological Norms regarding the use and filling out of the payment order to the State Treasury (OPT), approved by the Order of the Minister of Public Finance no. 246/2005,brings the following clarifications:

„ 1. In Article 5, letter k), section 9 shall be amended and shall have the following content:

9. for the payments mentioned under letter j) section 9 shall be written:

9.1 the fiscal identification code of the beneficiary, if the beneficiary of the amount is registered in Romania;

9.2. the fiscal identification code of the credit institution headquarters in Romania, where the beneficiary has an account or the fiscal identification code assigned to the State Treasury (8609468) if the beneficiary of the amount is not registered in Romania;

In Article 5, letter p), the second indent shall be amended and shall have the following content:

– for the other categories of payments, shall be written the financial nature of the payment (eg balance transfer), and in case of payments to beneficiaries not registered in Romania, other information may also be included (for example, the fiscal identification code from the country where they are registered) “

Order no. 1964/2017

Order of the ANAF President no. 1964 of June 30, 2017, published in the Official Gazette Part I no. 564 from July 17, 2017, for the approval of Form 630 “Annual taxation decision for determining the social health insurance contribution and the social insurance contribution” brings the following clarifications:

Comment: This order approves the template and the content of form 630 “Annual taxation decision for determining the social health insurance contribution and the social insurance contribution” starting with the fiscal year 2016 and includes 2 annexes:

–          Annex no. 1a “Situation regarding the establishment of the social health insurance contribution”

–          Annex no. 1b “Situation regarding the completion of the social insurance contribution”

It is used to determine the monthly health insurance contribution for income coming from independent activities, income from intellectual property rights, income from agricultural activities, forestry and fish farming, income from disposal of property, investment income and / or other sources, pensions originating from another State.

Law no. 172/2017

Law no. 172 of July 14, .2017, published in the Official Gazette Part I no. 576 from July 19, 2017, regarding  the  approval  of  the  Government  Emergency  Ordinance  no.  60/2016  amending and supplementing Law no. 76/2002 on the unemployment insurance system and the stimulation of employment brings the following clarifications: