December 11, 2017
Recently the Ministry of Public Finance published a new draft normative act that is in tune with the “fiscal revolution”!
According to this project the non-retention and non-collection, withholding and non-payment, respectively the collection and non-payment, in whole or in part, with intent, of 32 taxes and contributions will again be criminalized as the act of tax evasion and will be punished with imprisonment from one to six years.
The provision on the consideration of non-withholding taxes was valid in the past years until the summer of 2015 when the criminal nature was repealed, maintaining only the contraventional side.
The text of the normative act states: “Constitutes a crime and is punishable by imprisonment from one year to 6 years withholding or non-receiving, withholding and non-payment or, as the case may be, collection and non-payment, in whole or in part, with intent, no later than 30 days after the due date stipulated by law, of taxes and contributions provided for in the Annex to this Law.
Failure to pay with intent, within 30 days of the due date stipulated by law, of the taxes and contributions provided for in the Annex constitutes a criminal offence and where non-payment is the consequence of the use of these amounts for other purposes”,
Among the 32 taxes and contributions due to the budget that will fall under the normative act, remember:
- income tax on wages and salaries assimilated;
- tax on pension income;
- tax on income from intellectual property rights;
- tax on prize and gambling income;
- social insurance contribution due by natural persons who earn income from wages and salaries assimilated;
- contribution of social health insurance due by individuals who make income from wages and assimilated wages.
From 1 January 2018, pension and health contributions will be exclusively the responsibility of the employees, being due by them, but the obligation to withhold and transfer to the budget will also belong to the companies. In this context, it is particularly important for the representatives of the companies to ensure that the payment of these taxes is made within the legal deadlines.
However, the legitimate question arises as to whether a taxpayer’s “intentional or unintentional non-compliance” will be judged? Firms are often blocked by tax authorities themselves by entering accounts when tax returns are not properly operated up-to-date. From our point of view it’s a new attempt to put pressure on taxpayers under a system that is malfunctioning.
In the context of this new bill, we ask ourselves the question, which we believe many of you who own business and have never been late in paying taxes: why have we not been appreciated or at least congratulated? This bill creates a strong pressure and concern, and this leads to an even greater need to have a reliable partner for business development.
