Legislative Newsletter September 13, 2013

• Ordinance no. 16/2013
• Order no. 1681/2013
• Law. 279/2005 republication
• Order no. 1022/2013
• Resolution no. 530/2013
• Resolution no. 613/2013

Ordinance no. 16 of 30 July 2013, published in Official Gazette Part I no. 490 of 02.08.2013, amending and supplementing Law no. 571/2003 regarding the Fiscal Code and certain fiscal- budgetary measure, makes the following mentions:

Comment: Among the amendments made by the present ordinance we mention the provisions related to Title IX²  Mandatory social contributions:

• At article 296¹⁹, par. (2) is amended to read as follows: “(2)In case of the persons referred at art. 296²¹ par. (1) letter f), declaring the individual social contributions  is made by the income payer, which in this case is assimilated to the employer by filling the Statement regarding payment obligations concerning social contributions, income tax and nominal record of insured persons, according to par. (1) or (11), as applicable, in compliance with the provisions from par. (18).”
• At article 296²¹ par. (1), letter f) is amended to read as follows: ”f) persons that realize incomes in the system of withholding tax, from activities of the kind referred at art. 52 par. (1) and those who realize incomes from associations without legal personality provided ar art. 13 letter e);”
• At article 296²² par. (4) is amended to read as follows: ”(4) For persons referred to art. 296²¹ par. (1) letter f) the basis for calculating social security contributions is the gross income determined through the contract concluded between parties, the difference between the gross income and deductible expense stipulated in art. 50, income from association, the value of commissions or fees established by law in case of judicial and extrajudicial technical expertise and any other incomes obtained, however described, for which is applicable the withholding tax.”

Order no. 1681 of 30 July 2013, published in Official Gazette Part I no. 491 of 05.08.2013, regarding the approval of Regulatory Document with the charges for payment of services carried out in fields of Labour Inspection, makes the following mentions:

Comment: According to the present order the charges for payment of services carried out in the fields of Labour Inspection are:

• Issue of certificates/ filing receipts/ duplicate of certificates based on existing documents in the archives of territorial labour inspectorates, at the request of natural and legal persons or any entities that have the legal right to request and obtain this information.

Price: 50 lei/document

• Issue of certificates with information extracted from the data base held in the records of the Labour Inspection with the general records of the employees provided by employers.

Price: 15 lei/person

• Provision of data from The general register of employees for restoring the content or at employer, by issuing some extracts on paper from the data base held at the Labour Inspectorate established under Government Decision no. 500/2011 regarding general register of the employees.

            – employees details: 10 lei/employee or former employee.

Law no. 279 of 2005 concerning the apprenticeship at work was republished under art. VII of Law no. 179/2013, in the Official Gazette Part I, no. 498 of 07.08.2013, giving the texts a new numbering.

Order no. 1022 of 29 July 2013, published in the Official Gazette Part I no.505 of 09.08.2013, regarding the approval of the pattern and content of some documents prepared in the tax audit activity for natural persons who carry out independent activities individually and/or in some form of association, makes the following mentions:

• the pattern and instructions of filling the form “Precept regarding the income tax and social contributions established in addition by the tax audit for natural persons who carry out independent activities individually and/or in some form of association”;
• the pattern and instructions of filling the form “Percept regarding additional tax payment obligation set by the tax audit for natural persons who carry out independent activities  individually and/or in some form of association”;

Resolution no. 530 of 24 July 2013, published in Official Gazette Part I no. 506 of 12.08.2013, for granting short term facilities, regarding the obtaining of visas for short stay in Romania, for certain categories of foreigners, makes the following mentions:

Art. 1 – (1) Foreign citizens who carry out activities in an offshore facility located in a maritime area of economic exploitation exclusively belonging to Romanian state, for Romanian or foreign legal persons that conduct activities of exploitation and development of natural resources from the territorial sea, contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone of the Romanian state, will be granted the right of entry and residence in Romania, based on the Romanian short stay visa with multiple entries for business purposes, identified through C/A symbol.

(2) Foreigners provided under par. (1) will operate in the offshore installations located in the territorial waters or a maritime area of economic exploitation exclusively belonging to Romanian state, based on the visa granted under the  present decision;

(3) The visa referred to in par. (1) shall be granted for a period between 1 and 5 years, subject to a maximum duration of stay of 90 days during any period of 180 days, based on the following documents:

a) travel ticket valid up to destination or driving license, green card and registration documents of the vehicle, in case of a driver;

c) supporting document regarding the purpose of stay, from a Romanian legal person referred to in art. 1 par. (1), from which to result the fact that the foreigner will perform the activities mentioned in art. 1 par. (1) of the present order and that the concerned Romanian legal person will ensure the costs concerning the removal in case the foreigner does not leave Romania until after the expiry of the right to stay granted by the visa;

d) proof of financial means in the amount of 50 euro/day for the entire period, but not less than 500 euro or the equivalent in convertible currency;

Art.3 – (1) The present decision is supplemented with other legal provisions related to the visa granting, applicable at national and European level and is applied for a period of 3 years from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette, Part I

(2) When the present law has ruled out, the visas valid after this date may be revoked.

Resolution no. 613 of 14 August 2013, published in Official Gazette Part I no. 528 of 22.08.2013, amending and supplementing the Methodological Norms for applying Law no. 571/2013 regarding the Fiscal Code, approved by Government Decision no. 44/2004, makes ​​the following mentions:

Title II Tax on profit

Are deductible up to an amount representing the equivalent in lei of 400 euro, in a fiscal year, for each participant, according to art. 21 par. (3) letter j) of the Tax Code, the expenses incurred by the employer on behalf of an employee, regarding the voluntary pension schemes, according to Law no. 204/2006 on voluntary pensions, with subsequent modifications and completions, as well as those representing contributions to voluntary pensions schemes qualified under the law concerning voluntary pension by Financial Supervisory Authority, performed ​​to the authorized entities, established in EU Member States or European Economic Area. The exchange rate used to determine the equivalent in euro is the exchange rate leu/euro communicated by the National Bank of Romania from the registration date of the expenses by the employer.”

Title III Income Tax

Have limited deductibility the expenses paid on behalf of the employees, at voluntary pension funds according to Law no. 204/2006, with subsequent modifications and completions, and those representing contributions to voluntary pension funds qualified under the law concerning voluntary pensions by the Financial Supervisory Authority, performed to authorized entities, established in EU Member States or European Economic Area, within the equivalent of 400 euro, in a fiscal year, for each participant. The deduction of these expenses is made only on the basis of the documents regarding qualification of concerned voluntary pension funds, issued by the Financial Supervisory Authority at the request of the employer and are taken into account when determining the annual net income corresponding to the year in which the contributions were paid. The exchange rate used to determine the equivalent in euro is the annual average currency communicated by the National Bank of Romania for the year in which the payment was made.

For the calculation of the monthly tax associated with the income realized, the tax rate of 16% is applied to calculation basis determined as follows:

a) for the incomes obtained from the place where the basic function is, as a difference between the net income from wages, calculated by deducting from the gross income the mandatory contributions corresponding to a month, and the following:

– personal deduction granted for that month;

– union membership fee paid in that month;

– contributions to voluntary pension funds, according to Law no. 204/2006, as amended and supplemented, and to voluntary pension funds qualified under the law concerning voluntary pensions by Financial Supervisory Authority and managed by authorized entities, established in the EU member states or European Economic Area, so that in a year is not exceeded the equivalent in lei of 400 euro. The deduction of contributions withheld for the private pension funds qualified under the law concerning voluntary pension funds is realised only on the basis of documents regarding qualification of the concerned voluntary pension funds, issued by the Financial Supervisory Authority, at the request of the employer. During the year the payer of income from wages cumulates amounts in euro and checks the framing in the deductible limit provided by law. For verifying the framing in the annual limit, the exchange rate used to determine the equivalent in euro is the currency leu/euro communicated by the National Bank of Romania, set on the last day of the month for which the wage duties are paid.