Fiscal amnesty may be passed this month, say Finance Ministry insiders

Anca Alexe 02/04/2019 | 09:24

Fiscal amnesty could be adopted this month, and be focused on financial restructuring, according to sources in the Finance Ministry who spoke to Hotnews.ro. They say that companies will continue to be required to pay the principal part of their debt, but that it will be done in instalments over a certain period of time.

“We’ve spoken to several people in the business environment and they all said this was a good option. They’ll pay the principal debt only, and fees and penalties will be written off,” the sources told Hotnews.

The idea of fiscal amnesty first came up last year, through a joke made by PSD leader Liviu Dragnea. However, Finance minister Eugen Teodorovici quickly warmed to the idea and he said several times that the amnesty might happen, but no project was announced in 2018, despite rumours.

In July, after Liviu Dragnea made another reference to the amnesty, the PM’s economic advisor Darius Valcov said that fiscal amnesty was provided for in the governance programme and that it would include writing off the debts of certain companies. He added that “these kinds of things just get done, they’re not discussed,” and that there should be a closed-door debate on the matter.

Valcov said that businesses and individuals owed the state about RON 98 billion.

Recently, in March 2019, Eugen Teodorovici said that fiscal amnesty would be discussed by the government in April, target both the private and the public sector and be “very well-received by the business environment.”