Law no. 43/2023 for annulment of some tax liabilities

In the Official Gazette no. 163 from Feburary 24th 2023 it was published Law no. 43/2023 regarding the cancellation of some tax liabilities. Hereby, the main tax liabilities and accessory tax liabilities established by the tax authorities, as a result of the reclassification from the category of income from other sources to the category of income from wages and similar to wages, of the income from gift vouchers obtained by natural persons from other persons than employers.

What are the obligations to which the provisions of the law apply?

Both the main tax liabilities, as well as the accessories related to them, established by the tax authorities as differences following the reclassification from the category of income from other sources to the category of income from wages and assimilated to wages of income from gift vouchers obtained by natural persons from persons other than employers (provided by Law no. 193/2006 on the granting of gift vouchers and nursery vouchers and Law no. 165/2018 on the granting of vouchers) and unpaid until February 27, 2023, will be cancelled for the fiscal periods since the entry into force of Law no. 193/2006 and Law no. 165/2018 and until December 31, 2020 inclusive.

The cancellation applies even if the gift vouchers were granted to the employer of natural persons to distribute them to their employees on behalf of the taxpayer.

What happens with the tax liabilities already paid?

The main tax liabilities and/or accessory tax liabilities, extinguished by payment, offset, enforcement procedure or payment under the conditions of art. 22 of the Tax Procedure Code, related to tax periods up to and including 31.12.2020, are reimbursed to taxpayers. The reimbursement is made at the request of the taxpayers, and the right to reimbursement is subject to the 5 year statute of limitation term, calculated from the date of entry into force of the law (i.e. 27.02.2023)

What is the period for which the cancellation applies?

The tax obligations to be cancelled are those related to the following periods:

- 26.05.2006 – 31.12.2020 (for the gift vouchers provided by Law no. 193/2006 on the awarding of gift vouchers and nursery vouchers);

- 01.01.2019 – 31.12.2020 (for gift vouchers provided by Law no. 165/2018 on the award of vouchers).

The procedure for applying Law no. 43/2023

The tax authorities do not reclassify in income from wages and assimilated to wages the income from gift vouchers obtained by natural persons from persons other than their employers and classified in the category of income from other sources and do not issue a tax decision in connection with such reclassification.

The cancellation of tax liabilities is carried out ex officio, by the competent tax authority or at the taxpayer's request, as the case may be, by issuing and communicating a decision to cancel fiscal obligations, while the reimbursement will be made only at the request of the taxpayer.

If the competent tax authority previously issued, but did not communicate the tax decision by which it established liabilities of the nature envisaged by this law, it revokes the tax decision and no longer communicates it.

The application procedure, as well as the methods of reimbursement of the amounts, are approved by order of the NAFA president, which is issued within 30 days from the date of entry into force of the law.

The EY Team is available for further details on the above.