PwC: Romania may have much progress with VAT collection by automation of ANAF

Romania is again the first among the member states of the EU with VAT non-collection, according to a report of the European Commission published on Thursday  which shows that our country has deepened in 2019 the losses in VAT collection  by six billion lei, against the previous year. According to the European Commission in 2019 the lowest deficits in VAT collection in the EU were recorded in Croatia (1%), Sweden (1.4%) and Cyprus (2.7%) and the highest in Romania (34.9%), Greece (25.8%) and Malta (23.5%).'The deficit of VAT collection of Romania got worse in 2019, getting to 35.16 billion lei, after there had been an improvement in 2018 against 2017. Practically, Romania's budget does not collect over one third of VAT or 3% of GDP, meaning almost half of the deficit estimated of the budget for this year. I think that big progress can be made with VAT collection by automation of the ANAF. For example, in 2022  reporting will be made through the standard file of fiscal audit (SAF-T)which had good results in other states. But the effects of this change in reporting will not be seen before 2024, after the majority of the tax-payers join the new system' explained Daniel Anghel, partner and leader of the fiscal and judicial services, PwC Romania.According to the reports of the European Commision,starting with 2015, Romania has occupied the first place, every year, among the member states, with the highest VAT  gap. 'Over the last two years, ANAF took important steps. There is a package of integrated measures whose implementation started in 2020 and there should be some results next year'Daniel Anghel says. Annually, the European Commission monitors the VAT gap recorded at the level of member states of the European Union, indicator calculated as difference between the income from VAT estimated to be collected and that effectively collected for the state budgets. The VAT gap covers the VAT losses from fraud, insolvency, bankruptcy, administrative errors, fiscal undue advantages. PwC is a network of companies present in 159 countries with more than 295,000 professionals who offers services in the domain of audit, fiscal consultancy and business consultancy.