Ministry of Finance publishes on Monday night draft amendment to Fiscal Code

The Ministry of Finance published on Monday night the draft amendment to the Fiscal Code, which provides, among other things, for increasing the dividend tax from 5% to 8%, lowering the income threshold to which a company is considered a micro-enterprise, a 9% increase in VAT on non-alcoholic beverages containing added sugar or other sweeteners or flavorings and an increase in excise duties on cigarettes.As to the taxation of micro-enterprises, the bill proposes to reduce the ceiling of revenues obtained in the previous year, from one million euros to 500,000 euros, but also establishing the condition that the micro-enterprise must have at least one employee. Currently, tax rates are differentiated for micro-enterprises according to the number of employees, a rate of 1% being applicable if the micro-enterprise has at least one employee and a rate of 3% if the micro-enterprise has no employees. Given that, according to the new bill, micro-enterprises will be required to have at least one employee and the tax rate of 3% is eliminated.The draft amendment eliminates the possibility of applying the profit tax if the conditions related to the value of the share capital and the number of employees were met.In terms of VAT, the increase in the quota for beverages containing added sugar aims, according to the cited document, to discourage the consumption of such products, with an important impact on the health of consumers.Also, as of January 1, 2023, the VAT rate increases from 5% to 9% for both the delivery of food, including beverages (excluding alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages containing added sugar or other sweeteners or flavored ones), intended for human and animal consumption, as well as for restaurant and catering services and for hotel accommodation activities.The draft Ordinance proposes to increase the excise duties for cigarettes, starting with August 1, 2022, from 563.97 lei / 1,000 cigarettes to 594.97 lei / 1,000 cigarettes, as well as the adoption of a new calendar for the gradual increase in the total excise duty level for cigarettes.The draft normative act also proposes the revision of the regulation on the granting of fiscal facilities in the construction sector, as well as in the agricultural sector and in the food industry in the sense that only natural persons who obtain income from salaries and assimilated to salaries based on individual employment contracts concluded with employers that fall under the conditions provided in art. 60 point 5 and point 7 of the Fiscal Code. In these sectors, it is proposed to lower the ceiling up to which the tax facilities are granted, respectively from 30,000 lei per month to 10,000 lei per month, inclusively.