“As the government has already announced, in 2012 taxes and charges will not be modified. They remain at the same level as in 2011, except for the excises which are to be modified according to the timetable established with the European Union in 2004.”

A 4.4% increase in the diesel excise to reach 374 euros per tonne is estimated to push prices up about 2%. According to Ialomitianu, this increase will bring the state budget about 70 million euros. The new Fiscal Code also includes a number of important changes for companies. The annual profit tax statement must be submitted one month earlier than before, namely on March 25th, and companies may choose whether to pay their profit taxes on an annual or quarterly basis. For individual taxpayers, local charges and taxes will not be changed, despite calls to this effect by some local authorities. Gheorghe Ialomitianu:

“Local authorities are allowed to raise local taxes by up to 20%, but some local officials said this figure should be higher. The Ministry of the Interior and the Administration offered two options: either we raise the threshold from 20% to 50%, or we eliminate it altogether and leave it to the local authorities to decide their own tax levels. The government disagreed with both proposals. Anyway, increasing local tax levels at this point would have been an abuse because under the law such changes must be announced six months in advance.”

Another important provision of the new Fiscal Code is that it maintains taxes for owners of more than one house and for owners of cars whose engine capacity exceeds 2,000 cubic metres. As for commercial banks, they are to shift to international financial reporting standards, thus abandoning definitively the Romanian accounting standards.