Legislative newsletter 11th December 2015

 

LEGISLATIVE NEWSLETTER


The document covers the following:

• Emergency Ordinance no. 44/2015
• Order no. 3831/2015
• Law no. 229/2015
• Law no. 254/2015
• Emergency Ordinance no. 50/2015

Emergency Ordinance no. 44/2015

Emergency Ordinance no. 44 of 14.10.2015, published in the Official Gazette Part 1 no. 785 of 21.10.2015, regarding the granting of certain fiscal facilities, includes the following remarks:

Comment: The present Emergency Ordinance provides the cancellation of delay penalties, and also of an interest rate of 54.2%, corresponding to the main payment obligations for the general consolidated budget, overdue on 30th September 2015, inclusive, and administered by National Agency of Fiscal Administration (ANAF), if certain conditions are met, such as:

a) all the main payment obligations overdue on 30th September 2015, are being terminated until 31st March 2016, inclusively;
b) a 45,8% share of the interest related to payment obligations provided at point a), established by the decision communicated until the date of the main obligations termination, is paid until 30th June 2016;
c) it is terminated a 45,8% share from the interest due until the date of the main obligations termination provided at point a) and established by decisions communicated after this date, until the payment term provided at the article 111, line (2) from the Code of fiscal procedure;
d) all the main obligations, administered by the central tax authority with payment terms between 1st October 2015 and 31st March 2016 are terminated, until the submission date of the cancellation request for the delay penalties and a 54,2% share from interest (request of cancellation of the accessories);
e) the taxpayer has all the fiscal statements submitted until the submission date of the request of cancellation of the accessories;
f) the taxpayer submits the request of cancellation of the accessories until 30th June 2016, inclusively, until the penalty of nullity.

The tax facilities stated above are granted, with certain conditions, and related to the accessories due to:
a) the differences of payment obligations declared supplementary by the taxpayers through the rectifying statements which correct the main payment obligations due until the date of 30th September 2015 (including the case of correction of VAT return);
b) the main payment obligations with payment terms until 30th September 2015, and terminated before this date and accessories due and not terminated before 30th September 2015, inclusively;
c) the main payment obligations with payment terms before 30th September 2015, for which were issued or are issued imposing decisions as a result of a tax audit in progress at the effective date of the present emergency ordinance (the request of the cancellation of accessories must be submitted within a 90 days term after the communication of the imposing decisions).

The taxpayers who intend to benefit from fiscal facilities provided by the present Emergency Ordinance must submit a request of cancellation of accessories, pay the main payment obligations and accessories in certain timeframes (as required by law).

Order no. 3831/2015

Order no. 3831 of 16.11.2015, published in the Official Gazette Part I no. 874 of 23.11.2015, for the approval of the Procedure for application of the Government Emergency Ordinance provisions no. 44/2015 regarding the granting of certain fiscal facilities for the receivables administered by central fiscal authority.

Law no. 229/2015

Law no. 229 of 06.10.2015, published in the Official Gazette Part I no. 749 of 07.10.2015, amending and supplementing Law no. 202/2002 regarding the equality of opportunity and treatment between men and women, includes the following remarks:

Among the main amendments brought by the present law, we specify the introduction of certain concepts, such as:

1) psychological harassment – any improper conduct that takes place over a period of time, is repetitive or systematic and involves a physical behavior, oral or written language, gestures or other intentional acts and which could affect the personality, dignity or the physical or psychological integrity of a person.
2) Gender stereotypes – organized systems of beliefs and consensual opinions, perceptions and prejudices related to the tasks and characteristics, and also to the roles that they have or should be fulfilled by women and men.

Another aspect introduced by the present law regards the return to work (after the termination of the maternity leave, of the leave for child or of the paternal leave) of the employee and establishes that he/she is entitled to a professional reintegration program, whose duration is provided within the internal regulation of the company and cannot be less than 5 working days.

Law no. 254/2015

Law no. 254 of 02.11.2015, published in the Official Gazette Part I no. 818 of 03.11.2015, approving the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 36/2014 amending and supplementing Law no. 18/2014 for the modification and completion of Law no. 52/2011 regarding the exercise of certain activities with occasional character, performed by daily workers, and also modifying Article 8, line (1) from Law no. 416/2001 regarding the guaranteed minimum income.


Emergency Ordinance no. 50/2015

The Emergency Ordinance no. 50 of 27.10.2015, published in the Official Gazette Part I no. 817 of 03.11.2015, amending and supplementing Law no. 227/2015 regarding the Fiscal Code and Law no. 207/2015 regarding the Code of fiscal procedure, includes the following remarks:

– The dividends tax is determined by applying a tax rate of 5% over the gross dividend paid to a Romanian legal entity (before the modification, Article 43 line (2) set a tax rate of 16%);
– The provisions of Article 43, line (6) which stated the tax dividends rate at 5% starting from the 1st January 2017 is canceled.

– The tax rate on microenterprises income – at Article 51, line (1) is amended and will be read as follows:
“(1) The tax rates on microenterprises income are:
a) 1% for the microenterprises with more than 2 employees, inclusively;
b) 2% for the microenterprises with one employee;
c) 3% for the microenterprises without employees.

– Withholding tax on income from pensions – In case of income from pensions and/or differences from income from pensions, the tax is calculated separately from the tax related to the rights for current month, through applying the rate of 16% on taxable income, the withheld tax being the final tax, for the amounts representing their update with the inflation index, established on the basis of the judicial decisions remained final and irrevocable/ final and enforceable judicial decisions. The taxable income from pensions is established by deduction from the total amount of the individual contribution to social health insurance, due according to law, and from the non-taxable monthly amount, established according to law in force on the payment date. The tax is withheld on the payment date, according to legal regulations in force on the date of payment of the specified income. The tax thus withheld is paid before the 25th of the following month after the month in which the income was paid.

– The individuals who own an insurance for disease and maternity within the social security system of another state, member of European Union, European Economic Area or Swiss Confederation or in the states with whom Romania has concluded bilateral social security agreements with provisions regarding insurance for disease – maternity, under the domestic laws of the specific states, taking effect on the Romanian territory, and prove the insurance validity, in accordance to the procedure established by joint order of the ANAF president and the National House of Health Insurance, do not have the quality of contributor to the health social security system.