Moldovan parliament adopts legislative package for fiscal reform

Chisinau, 26 July /MOLDPRES/ - The parliament today adopted the legislative package for fiscal reform in the first and second readings. The documents are aimed at stimulating the business environment, increasing residents’ incomes, reducing the shadow economy, envelope salaries, tax evasion and undeclared incomes.   

The package passed sees: cutting the income tax for private persons from 18 per cent to 12 per cent, by setting a single quota; reducing the employer’s contribution to the State Social Insurances Budget from 23 per cent to 18 per cent (this refers exclusively to the corporate sector); doubling of the personal exemption, from 11,280 lei to 24,000 lei. At the same time, those receiving salaries under the subsistence minimum (1,862 lei in 2017) will no longer pay taxes.

Also, as for the HORECA industry, the parliament voted a cut of the quota of the value added tax (VAT) from 20 per cent to 10 per cent for the services from restaurants, hotels, coffee houses, catering, etc.; as for the activity of taxi drivers, the law proposes a special regime of taxation of employees with salaries under 10,000 lei per month, with the imposing of a fixed tax worth 500 lei monthly. At the same time, fines increase for the work without licence and the passenger can refuse to pay for the travel, if he/she does not receive a payment bill.    

Also, to bring money from the shadow economy to the real one, the government ruled that the private persons can voluntarily declare the undeclared assets; these persons will have to show the source of the income and pay a three-per cent tax of the value of the assets liberalized till 10 December 2018. The cabinet specified that the following categories of people will not be able to benefit from voluntary declaration of assets: civil servants, those who held public officers after 2009: presidents, MPs, prime ministers, ministers, judges, prosecutors, directors and deputy directors of the Intelligence and Security Service, National Anticorruption Centre, State Fiscal Service, Customs Service, National Bank of Moldova, National Energy Regulatory Agency, National Agency for Regulation in Electronic Communications and Information Technology, the Service for the Prevention and Combating of Money Laundering, etc., as well as heads of the embezzled banks and those who benefited from fraudulent loans, including from the banks Investprivatbank, Banca de Economii (Savings Bank), Banca Socială (Social Bank) and Unibank. In this way, the government, following discussions with foreign partners, has the goal to make sure that no fraudulent money or money coming from the one billion theft or other lawless actions will enter Moldova.       

The legislative package also provides for a string of measures aimed at reducing pressure and at stimulating the business environment, among which: extension from 2 to 3 years of the deadline for the repatriation of currency for the results of external contracts; the control on the spot will be made only after the checking of acts; limiting the powers of the Intelligence and Security Service related to the investigation of economic offences and cancelation of fines and delay penalties, if the taxes are paid till 10 December 2018.  

At the parliament meeting, the factions of the Party of Socialists, Liberal Democratic Party, Party of Communists and Liberal Party spoke out against the legislative initiatives and walked out of the session hall, as a token of protest against the inclusion of the draft laws on the agenda. The opposition MPs condemned the “haste with which the drafts are approved, as the lawmakers have not managed to analyze the provisions included in the documents.”

The documents were backed by the Democratic Party of European People’s Party of Moldova. Parliament Speaker Andrian Candu said that the drafts included in the fiscal reform are to be adopted for the good of the citizens, as the people’s incomes will grow. “All these amendments are expected by the citizens and the business environment for a long time,” Candu said.     

The legislative package will enter into force on 1 October 2018.

(Reporter A. Ciobanu, editor A. Raileanu)