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Taxpayers have the possibility to opt for the application of this new regime recently approved, which allows to avoid VAT payments at the moment of the import of goods and defer them to the subsequent month by including them in the VAT return referred to the month in which imports have been performed. From a practical perspective, this special regime entitles taxpayers to avoid cash payments linked to VAT quotes at the moment of the import by allowing its VAT deduction in the tax return filed within the next month to that in which the import took place.

In order to apply such special tax regime, several requirements must be fulfilled, among which are the following:

– only taxpayers filing monthly VAT returns are eligible

– the option must be exercised during the month of November to be applicable the following year

New thresholds to report EU transactions for statistical purposes (Intrastat report) 

As of January 1st, 2015, new thresholds have been approved for filing EU transactions for Intrastat purposes: 400.000€ is the new threshold approved for entries such as for deliveries, whereas 250.000€ was the threshold applicable until 2014. This implies a significant reduction of the administrative burden for small and medium entities, which will be no longer obliged to file this statistical report.

New rules applicable for Travel Agencies:

Special VAT regime applied to Travel Agencies has been modified to make it more flexible. As from January 2015, taxpayers applying this regime may opt to apply general VAT rules instead to specific transactions provided the recipient of the services is entitled to the VAT deduction or VAT refund. This change has been introduced aimed to adapt Spanish VAT regulations to VAT regulations applicable in other EU Member States.

Good News for Tax Payers in Romania

Contexpert team presents you briefly the most significant tax changes applying in 2015 which might be worthy of your attention. The Romanian Fiscal Code was changed partly last year and partly from January 1, 2015. The main issues refer to: social contributions paid by the employer, the tax on special construction, the VAT and the fiscal year.

Social contributions were decreased with 5 percentage points

The most important fiscal change impacting the companies is the reduction of the social contributions (pension) rates paid by employers with 5 percentage points. The measure is in force since October, 2014.

According to the Romanian legislation, employment income is generally subject to social contributions. The social contributions rates paid by employers and employees apply on certain computation bases that may be capped as provided by the Romanian Fiscal Code.

For 2015, the contribution rates are: 10.5% for employee and 15.8% for employer ( 20.8% and 25.8% for special working conditions).

Also, the taxable income derived from independent activities (other than those for which the income tax is withheld at source) is subject to social security contributions of 26.3%. There are minimum and maximum limits for the insured amount for independent activities. Thus, the insured amount cannot be lower than 35% of the average gross salary or higher than five times the average gross salary per month established by the social insurance budget for the current year. In case the individuals are also employees they do not pay the social contribution for the independent activities.

Tax on special constructions reduced with 0.5 percentage point

In 2014, the Romanian Fiscal Code established a new tax for constructions by applying a 1.5% rate to the value of the constructions recorded in the taxpayer books as at 31 December of the previous year.

The rate was reduced to 1% at the beginning of 2015.

The assets that are subject to the building tax (charged by the local authorities) are exempted. The taxpayers required to pay the tax on constructions are Romanian legal persons, foreign legal persons operating through a permanent establishment in Romania and legal entities with registered offices in Romania established according to the European legislation.

Reduced VAT of 9% for touristic services

The standard VAT rate in Romania is 24%. Romanian fiscal legislation, also, establishes reduced VAT rates of 5% and 9% for the delivery of different goods and services.

From January 1, 2015, the reduced VAT rate of 9% is levied also on touristic services.

The fiscal year may be different from the calendar year

In Romania, the fiscal year is the calendar year. But from 2014, the legislation has introduced exceptions. Thus, the financial year may be different from the calendar year for:

• branches established in Romania belonging to a legal person established abroad
• consolidated subsidiaries of a company – foreign-based parent, as well as for the subsidiaries of the subsidiaries.

HMRC will assess whether applicants are approved. Businesses that cannot demonstrate they are sufficiently protected from the illicit alcohol trade may have their right to trade in alcohol removed.

From April 2017, it will become an offence for a UK retailer to buy alcohol from an unregistered wholesaler. UK retailers must check that the wholesaler is registered and HMRC will provide an online look-up register to facilitate this.

Overseas suppliers (without a UK establishment) selling to UK wholesalers should not be affected by this scheme.