Legislative Newsletter December 02, 2013

Contains:
 
  • Order no. 2272/2013
  • Law no. 291/2013
  • Emergency Ordinance no. 102/2013
 
Order no. 2272/2013
 
Order no. 2272 of 30 October 2013, published in Official Gazette Part I no. 691 of 12.11.2013, for approving the procedure for the application of article 42 of Law no. 448/2006 regarding the protection and promotion of rights for persons with disabilities, in conjunction with art. 77 of Law no. 263/2010 regarding the public pension system makes the following mentions:
 
Comment: The present Order establishes the procedure applicable to persons with severe disabilities who, based on a medical and psychosocial assessment are entitled to a personal assistant and also the procedure applicable to pensioners with degree I disabilities who have the right besides their pension to an allowance for their caregiver, in fixed amount.

 

Law no. 291/2013
 
Law no. 291 of 13 November 2013, published in Official Gazette Part I no. 701 of 15.11.2013, for amending the provisions of Law no. 142/1998 regarding the granting of meal tickets makes the following mentions:
 
Comment: The present Law introduces the possibility of granting meal tickets both on paper format and on electronic format. As such, the electronic meal tickets are electronic vouchers regulated only by the provisions of the present law and intended exclusively for being granted as individual meal allowance for employees in accordance with the present law.
 
The employer has the right to decide whether to grant meal tickets and in what form, after consulting with the employees. The electronic meal tickets do not permit operations of cash withdrawal. 

The provisions of the present law come into force in 90 days after their publication in the Official Gazette.

Emergency Ordinance no. 102/2013

Emergency Ordinance no. 102 of 14 November 2013, published in Official Gazette Part I no. 703 of 15.11.2013, for amending and supplementing the provisions of Law no. 571/2003 regarding the
Fiscal Code and the regulation of some financial-fiscal measures
, makes the following mentions:

Comment: The provisions of the present law come into force starting 1st of January 2014.

Among the amendments brought by the present emergency ordinance we mention first the ones regarding the salary income. As such, for determining the salary tax applicable for primary positions as well as for secondary positions, the mandatory social contributions due according to the law and to the European Union provisions or to the agreements regarding the coordination of the social security systems in which Romania is a part of, may be deducted from the gross income.

Also, the present Emergency Ordinance mentions that the following types of income are included in the non-taxable income category when computing the taxable profit:

– dividends received from foreign legal entities subject to corporate income tax or similar tax, located in countries which are not members of the European Union and with which Romania has concluded a double tax treaty;
– capital gains derived from the sale/assignment of shares held in Romanian legal entities or in legal entities from countries with which Romania has concluded a double tax treaty;
– income derived from the liquidation of another Romanian legal entities or of foreign legal entities located in countries with which Romania has concluded a double tax treaty.

The above provisions apply if the taxpayer holds for an uninterrupted period of 1 year, at least 10 % of the share capital of the legal entity distributing the dividends or of the legal entity in which the shares sold/assigned are held or of the legal entity which is subject to liquidation.

Regarding the tax on income of micro-enterprises, the present Emergency Ordinance provides that micro-enterprises which during a fiscal year derive revenues of above EUR 65.000 or the share of revenues from consultancy and management activities in the total revenues is above 20% inclusively, are subject to corporate income tax starting with the quarter in which any of the
mentioned thresholds is exceeded.

Also, certain amendments are brought regarding the computation of taxable base for legal entities which apply the micro-enterprises taxation regime.

With respect to the assessment of the tax base for taxable income of individuals resident within the European Union or European Economic Area, a new article is introduced, which provides that they
can benefit from the same deductions as Romanian resident individuals. The deductions are granted within the limit stipulated in the Romanian legislation, based on supporting documents and only if they are not deducted in the state of residency.
 

Please note that the present Emergency Ordinance also provides amendments with respect to local taxes, VAT and excise duty.