Romanian National Agency for Fiscal Administration to monitor more closely car washers, hair saloons and restaurants

Both PM Emil Boc and the designated Finance minister Sebastian Vladescu expressed their intention to modify the minimum tax, aiming it towards high tax fraud domains. For the moment, companies pay a minimum annual tax between 2.200 lei if their total income is up to 52,000 lei, and 43,000 lei for incomes over 129 million lei. In an exclusive HotNews.ro interview, ANAF president talks about the perspective for this income, ANAF’s targets in 2010, business areas where tax fraud is highest and ANAF projects.

According to Sorin Blejnar, president of the Romanian National Agency for Fiscal Administration (ANAF), the minimum income cleaned the business environment: some gave up companies in „clinical death”, others moved their affairs from one company to another, preferring the Authorised Physical Entity (PFA) set-up. Blejnar, 49,000 PFAs have been recorded in 2008 and 51,000 during the first nine months of 2009. 72% of the dismantled companies did not have any activity.

The minimum tax brought 529 million lei to the budget and Blejnar says the sum is not insignificant. Now he wants this tax to be levied only for several business types.

Blejnar claims that the biggest tax fraud in 2009 occurred in the real estate department, where agents acted as PFAs to avoid paying VAT. He also indicates that the intra-communitarian VAT was illegal recovered through fictitious companies. Blejnar wants the minimum tax to raise money from local communities.

He stated that ANAF will focus on business areas where incomes are not declared, and not through increased spending. By that he meant „car washers, hair saloons, restaurants”.