Finance Minister: Reduction in VAT, excise duties may take effect earlier than January 2016

The reduction in VAT and excise duties, measures included in the 2016-2020 Fiscal Relief Plan in the draft Tax Code, may take effect earlier than January 2016, according to Finance Minister Darius Valcov, quoted by Agerpres.

2015-02-19 15:34:14

"Two measures, the reduction in VAT and excise duties will not expect the January 2016 moment, to avoid creating a gap in November-December in terms of consumption in Romania," Minister Valcov told a conference held at the Romanian Banking Institute.

He explained that the population and businesses could be tempted to postpone purchases at end-2015 in order to benefit from reduced VAT and excise duties in 2016.

Valcov said that tax relief plan in the new Tax Code is very structured and has a value of 9 billion dollars, money that can return by 2020 to the real economy and to business operators.
The finance Minister underscored that some of the tax relief measures could no longer be delayed, and mentioned in this sense the VAT reduction by 4 percentage points, slashing excise duties to the minimum level in the European directives, eliminating the tax on special constructions of the tax on dividends.

The standard VAT quota will be decreased from 24 percent to 20 percent as of January 1, 2016 and to 18 percent as of January 1, 2018, according to the draft amendment to the Tax Code. Also, the VAT for meat, vegetables, fish and fruit will be reduced to 9 percent.
On the other hand, the excise duties on fuels will be cut and the excise duties on coffee, jewelry, hunting guns and related ammunition, vehicles with an engine capacity bigger than 3,000 cubic centimetres, yachts and boat engines will be written off.