Maria Grapini: The 3% turnover tax will be eliminated

The 3% turnover tax will be eliminated, Maria Grapini, the delegated minister for SMEs, Tourism and the Business sector announced yesterday. She said that "in Romania, revenues are not booked accurately, which means that the turnover is not relevant". She also announced that the Ministry of the Economy is considering the implementation, between April and December, of a pilot program for the application of a lump sum tax for hotels, boarding houses, restaurants, cafés and bars, with the authorities' studies indicating that a 3-4 star hotel would pay about 130 Euros/room/year.

"I am happy that all the professional associations in the hospitality industry, food service industry, repairs and car maintenance, whom we talked to, have understood that it is in fact a new manner of taxation, not just another tax. A lump sum will be paid, depending on the established indicators, but this time according to the line of business, because the relevant indicators are not the same for car repair workshops, for examples, or for hotels. We have relevant indicators for each sector, we set that fixed amount and after that, no further taxes are paid", said Maria Grapini.

"We did not invent the wheel, this manner of payment of fixed amounts based on the forecasted amount that a company can earn, based on conditions, location, seasonality, rating, in the case of hotels and restaurants. If we succeed in eliminating the lack of clarity in the business sector, so that everyone can see the rules clearly and abide by them, we can also implement the government's project to reduce each year, for four years in a row, the fiscal pressure, with Social Security contributions, with VAT, so that in four years it would get back to where it was, with facilities for investments or the tax exemption of reinvested profits", minister Grapini said.

She said that the lump sum tax will help fair businesspeople and will "bring out" those who have created unfair competition.

• Business ethics

The minister has announced among other things, that she wants to introduce business ethics rules, which would apply regardless of whether the partners are the state or the government. A payment delay of 30 days for invoices would help money move faster, and is just one of the measures that are being considered, Grapini says. The commercial lawsuits would be solved by specialized courts, five at first. "I also intend to consult the business environment before proposing a change of the legislation in the sector", the minister also said.

Another plan of the current administration is the reduction of bureaucracy.