The government in Bucharest has adopted the proposed amendments to the Fiscal Code. The project envisages, among other things, increasing the dividend tax from 5% to 8% and lowering the income threshold to which a company is considered a micro-enterprise. Also, micro-enterprises will be required to have at least one employee, eliminating the 3% profit tax. VAT on non-alcoholic beverages containing added sugar or other sweeteners or flavorings increases to 9% and excise duties on cigarettes are also up.
Most measures will come into force from 1 January 2023, except for the increase in excise duties, the increase in fees for gambling and part-time contracts, which will take effect from 1 August.
The government estimates that the new fiscal changes will bring in addition to the state budget 2.2 billion lei in 2022 and 13.4 billion lei (about 1% of GDP) in 2023.
Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca said that the amendments to the Fiscal Code that the Government will approve on Friday took into account ensuring a climate of predictability and stability of the business environment and, on the other hand, eliminating some exceptions. He mentioned that in order to elaborate the final form of the project, discussions took place with the business environment, with the employers, with the unions.
“We have done everything in our power to start, on the one hand, as we were asked, to eliminate exceptions and, on the other hand, to do so in a way that ensures business predictability and stability in order to be able to encourage the continuation of investments in the Romanian economy “, Ciuca said at the beginning of the Government meeting on Friday.