IFRS reporting standards to be implemented starting 2012 in Romania

The financial institutions will have to switch from RAS (Romanian Accounting Standards) to IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) starting January 1st 2012, said Dan Lazar, state secretary at the Ministry of Public Finance. This statement was made during an event on fiscality organized today by Ziarul Financiar.

Lazar added that the emergency ordinance regarding IFRS standards will be adopted by end-December 2011 and that authorities are also working to changes in the fiscal code, with respect to the set up of new accounting standards.

During the same event, Dan Dudas, director of fiscal legislation within the Ministry of Finance, explained that the current year has been stable with regard to tax rates, but that fiscal stimulants will be awarded to companies that pay taxes on time, only under the condition that companies that are in the grey area when it comes to taxes will also start contributing to the state budget.

Lazar explained that Romanian fiscal authorities will continue efforts in building a simple and predictable fiscal framework, and not award bonuses for companies that are good tax payers.

Romania has been able to reduce the number of para-fiscal taxes from 491 just to under 250 at present. The state secretary added that Romania will extend the taxation base under income norms and that social contributions from independent activities will be transferred to ANAF (the fiscal administration agency) from local insurance bodies.

The fiscal legislation has remained stable in 2011 and authorities pledge that this will also continue in 2012. For instance, only two ordinances have been implemented to the fiscal code this year (Ordinance no. 29 and 30) aimed at streamlining the collection of taxes from companies. At present, companies that have due tax payments, can pay the bulk of the debt and obtain a 50 percent reduction of penalties. Authorities want to remove the punitive function of the relationship with tax payers and focus more on collecting the main debt and interest payment.