Over two thirds of Romanians would pay taxes by card, says GfK survey

Around two thirds of Romanians consider tax payments by card attractive, but a transaction commission seriously dents this intention, reveals a GfK study carried out for Visa Europe.

Half of Romanians in urban areas that pay local taxes are aware they can pay local taxes through POS terminals in public institutions. Around 40 percent of respondents know they can pay taxes online by card using ghiseul.ro or other online platform set up by public authorities. At present, tax payments by bank card can be made through POS terminal in 145 localities and online in 52 cities.

One in three Romanians says paying taxes is a difficult process due to bureaucracy, the schedule of local administrations and the long time it takes to make a payment.

If a transaction commission appears the intention of paying taxes through POS terminals drops from 61 percent to 26 percent. Moreover, 56 percent of respondents will not pay taxes by bank card at POS or online at all.

The volume of taxes paid by bank card doubled in 2011 to RON 73.2 million according to data from Romanian banks member of Visa Europe. The online payment segment increased seven fold last year.

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The study was carried out between January and February 2012 on 1,700 respondents, out of which 1,000 are representatives at national level, and had a sampling error of 3.1 percent. The target public was represented by tax payers between 25 – 45 years old, in urban areas that use banking products and pay their taxes.

Ovidiu Posirca