EY: The unified fiscal statement to bring advantages for taxpayers in time

Aurel Dragan 12/04/2018 | 16:34

The new system of unified fiscal statement introduced this year by the government is expected to have some difficulties at the beginning of its implementation, but taxpayers will soon feel its advantages, Alex Milcev, partner and leader of the Department of Tax and Legal Aid of EY Romania, said on Thursday.

The unified statement for the income tax and social contributions will be submitted this year by almost one million taxpayers who have income sources from independent activities, based on 2017 data from the Public Finance Ministry. The unified statement links seven previous statements – D200, D201, D220, D221, D600, D604 and D605.

One of the main changes is that all the responsibility will fall into the hands of the taxpayers, not in those of ANAF inspectors,” says Milcev, explaining that it will be easier for the inspectors to verify the forms.

Implementing such a new online system could be a difficult task, especially for those who are not used with internet and online submission, like many people in the rural areas who receive agricultural income or the elderly in the cities who have rental income, the experts point out.

But the Ministry of Finance prepares a network of locations within the town halls to help e-filing, with local authorities’ involvement, for individual taxpayers having difficulty using a computer or going online.

“We can’t expect to have a 100 percent taxpayers with declarations submitted online, but in time people will get used to it”, Milcev indicates.

“It will surely be an important change of mentality, you should’t wait anymore for your Fiscal to tell you what to do (…). You know that March 15 is a red date in the calendar. Until then, you have to know the situation for the previous year, file the statement and pay the tax,” he added.

The main advantages of the system are a better control of taxpayers over their own income, easy online submission and less bureaucracy, while disadvantages include difficulties with online submission, according to the experts.

System change

In 2018, the unified form will be available for submission starting May 16.

According to the new tax policy of the Ministry of Finance, individual taxpayers have to file an unified tax form until July 15 this year and until March 15 next year, declaring last financial year’s income and an estimation of future income.

But the ministry, which spends EUR 10 million per year for sending postal mail to individual taxpayers, will force e-filing of income statements. For the last time, ANAF, the Romanian tax agency, will send letters to each individual taxpayer this year informing them about the amount of tax to be paid.

Individual taxpayers will also receive this year a letter from the tax agency with their automatically created Fiscal Virtual Space accounts and passwords.

Ministry of Finance data shows only 5 percent of individual taxpayers use Fiscal Virtual Space, a fiscal tool created a couple of years ago.

From 2019, all individual fiscal data will be available to individual taxpayers only through Fiscal Virtual Space and no more letters will be sent.

For intellectual property rights and land lease, considered regular income, collecting taxes at source system will be maintained.

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