The Romanian tax authority has published the revised Fiscal Procedure Code in the Official Gazette no. 545 dated 23 July 2015. The existing Fiscal Procedure Code is being updated by Law 207/2015 implementing new provisions with respect to tax procedure matters.
The revised Code brings multiple amendments to the existing provisions which are given below;
- New penalties are introduced for failure to declare/incorrect declaration of tax liabilities (in addition to the late payment interest and penalties already enforced). The level of the penalty was established at 0.08% per day of delay and can be reduced by 75%, upon request, if the related tax liabilities are paid within the legal deadline provided by the tax assessment decision.
- Late payment interest and the level of penalties are reduced to 0.02% and 0.01% respectively.
- A threshold for related party transactions which are to be documented via the transfer pricing file will be introduced by means of a special order issued by the National Agency for Tax Administration.
- Taxpayers are obliged to prepare and maintain transfer pricing files, without waiting for a tax authority request. This contrasts with the actual Fiscal Procedure Code, which requires the preparation and presentation of a transfer pricing file only at the request of the tax authority.
- Fees for issuance of advance tax rulings are increased from EUR 1,000 to EUR 5,000 for large taxpayers and EUR 3,000 for small and medium size taxpayers.
- The maximum duration of a tax audit will be 45 days for small taxpayers, 90 days for medium taxpayers and 180 days for large taxpayers (currently, 6 months for large taxpayers and 3 months for other taxpayers).
- The principle of in dubio contra fiscum will be introduced (i.e. in the case of doubts, a tax norm must be interpreted in favour of the taxpayer).
- Small and medium taxpayers will have a maximum of 5 working days, and large taxpayers maximum 7 working days, for giving their written reaction to tax audit findings (currently, 3 working days).
The new Fiscal Procedure Code comes into force on 1 January 2016. For tax receivables and administrative procedures occuring before that date, the old law applies.
