Decree Law 130/2021 was recently published, which introduces several novelties in the tax area in Romania. The reintroduction of the criminal offense for failure to pay contributions and withholding taxes is the subject of this article.
The most relevant is the amendment to Law No. 241/2005 regarding the fight against tax evasion; the amendment introduced establishes that it will be considered a crime (thus a criminal sanction) to fail to pay contributions and withholding taxes if they are not made within 60 days of the deadline established by the regulations (in fact, the offence consists of the withholding of contributions and withholding taxes at source, and thus “belonging “to other parties who receive the net income, and the failure to pay them to the State according to the purpose for which they were regulated by law). This case was already present in the past and temporarily “suspended.”
As of March 1, 2022, the following offense is considered a criminal offense:
“It shall constitute a crime and shall be punishable by imprisonment for a term of 1 year to 5 years or by fine withheld and failure to pay, collect, and fail to pay, within 60 days of the due date prescribed by law, taxes and/or contributions provided for in Art. the Annex to this law.”
The annex to the Decree lists 19 categories of taxes whose non-payment falls within the scope of this offense.
These are:
– Tax on dividends paid to a Romanian legal entity;
– Tax on income from sports activities, carried out independently;
– Copyright tax;
– Tax on income from wages and income treated as wages;
– Income tax on rent;
– Tax on income from interest;
– Tax from liquidation of a legal entity or reduction of share capital (when due);
– Tax on dividend income paid to the individual;
– Tax on pension income;
– Tax on income from prizes and games of chance;
– Tax on income from other sources;
– Income tax obtained by an individual from association with a legal person paying profit tax;
– Income tax realized by an individual from the association with a legal person who pays the microenterprise income tax;
– The income tax realized by an individual from the association with a legal person paying a specific tax;
– Social security contributions;
– Contribution to social health insurance;
– Tax on income obtained in Romania by nonresidents, withholding tax (in all cases where such tax occurs);
– Tax on income from transfer of ownership on real estate;
– Contribution to environmental fund.
Therefore, we recommend that tax withholding and contribution payments be regularized in a timely manner so as not to incur the offense.
We remain available for any clarification needs
