Main legislative changes of June 2023

1. Procedures for implementing the tax amnesty for gift vouchers.

In the Official Gazette no. 586 of June 28, 2023, was published Order no. 906/2023, approving the Procedure for canceling tax obligations that may be subject to cancellation as provided by Law no. 43/2023 published in Official Gazette no. 163 dated February 24, 2023, regarding the cancellation of certain principal and ancillary tax obligations established until December 31, 2020, by the tax authority as a result of reclassifying as salary income the income from gift vouchers obtained by individuals from parties other than employers. In brief, Law 43/2023 published in February is the one that granted an amnesty for tax obligations resulting from the reclassification of income from gift vouchers as salary income, and this new order presents the procedure for implementing this law.

For more details regarding the cancellation of tax obligations, please access our Newsletter for February 2023, available at the following link. 

Thus, Order 906/2023, provides the following:

• The procedure for preparing and transmitting by the tax authority the list of tax obligations that may be subject to cancellation (Annex 1 of the Order)
• The procedure for canceling tax obligations, as well as the methods of refunding them (Annex 2 of the Order)
• The model form of the "Decision to cancel tax obligations" (Annex 3 of the Order)
• The model form of the "Request for canceling tax obligations" (Annex 4 of the Order)
• The model form of the "Decision to reject the request for canceling tax obligations" (Annex 5 of the Order)
• The model form of the "Request for refunding tax obligations" (Annex 6 of the Order)

2. High-net-worth individuals in Romania

In Official Gazette no. 585 dated June 28, 2023, Order 920/2023 concerning individual residents in Romania who possess significant wealth was published.

Through this Order, individuals with substantial wealth are defined as those who, according to information held by the National Agency for Fiscal Administration, own assets both in Romania and abroad amounting to more than 25 million euros. The calculation of the wealth is done in Romanian Lei at the average euro exchange rate from the previous year of estimation. The estimation of wealth for individual tax residents in Romania encompasses both movable and immovable assets, as well as financial assets held.

The group of individuals with substantial wealth will consist of persons whose wealth exceeds 25 million euros, but an extended group of individuals with substantial wealth will also be established, including their spouses and first and second-degree relatives.

Moreover, the National Agency for Fiscal Administration (NAFA) will notify individuals who are part of the group of individuals with substantial wealth through a notification. According to the Order, both the group of individuals with substantial wealth and the extended group of individuals with substantial wealth will be updated every 3 years for adding individuals who exceed the threshold of 25 million euros and every 6 years for removing individuals who no longer meet this criteria.

3. Clarifications on the concept of fixed establishment - CJEU in case C-232/22 (Cabot Plastics).

At the end of June, the European Court of Justice issued a decision regarding the Cabot Plastics case (C-232/22), providing important clarifications regarding the concept of a fixed establishment.

The novelty lies in the analysis of the concept of a fixed establishment and the Court's arguments regarding the situation of processing companies providing ”toll manufacturing” services, as well as auxiliary services to the recipient. Additionally, in this case, the situation is also examined when the turnover of the service provider is predominantly derived from services provided to a single recipient.

The Cabot Plastics decision C-232/22 complements the Berlin Chemie ruling C-333/20, which established that a company does not possess a fixed establishment solely by having a subsidiary in another state. Thus, the Court concludes in this case that a recipient of services located outside the European Union does not have a fixed commercial establishment in the state where the service provider is established if the recipient does not have an adequate structure of human and technical resources at that location that can constitute such a fixed commercial establishment. Even when the service provider, through an exclusivity contract, performs manufacturing services on behalf of the recipient under subcontracting arrangements, as well as various ancillary or additional services that contribute to the beneficiary’s economic activity in the member state where the service provider is located, a fixed establishment does not arise in the absence of the beneficiary’s own human and technical resources in that member state, which it has at its disposal.

Disclaimer

The information contained in this newsletter is intended to give you an overview of new legislation; the newsletter does not contain a comprehensive analysis of each topic. For more information on the topics covered please contact us. No liability is accepted for decisions or omissions following the use of the contents of this newsletter. All Crowe newsletters are available at the address www.crowe.ro.